Pro Hero: Star Warrior Kirby
by Otaku553
Summary: Kirby was Kirby. Hoshino Kirby, 16 year-old little kid, but also Mini-Knight, Pro Hero Meta Knight's trusty sidekick. But when he's revealed as an illegal vigilante for not having a hero license, he panics. "You've probably guessed it by now, but the easiest way to get a license is joining a hero school." Rewrite in progress.
1. Chapter 1

_Once upon a time, a ship crashed on a planet._

_Planet Popstar, the World of Miracles. Dreamland, the Land of Peace._

_The ship held naught but a baby, a little pink bundle of joy born of the Void and blessed with immeasurable power._

_But with great power came great responsibility, even in the hands of the fledgeling Star Warrior._

_Threats flocked to the planet. The light attracted the dark, and the dark preyed on its lazy defense._

_Yet, the baby protected them all. The fledgeling warrior grew strong, grew up into a Star Warrior, with the aid of his many friends._

_He loved them. He loved his home. He would protect them forever._

_Until he couldn't._

_Until an enemy finally overpowered him._

_Until his endless reserves of strength finally depleted._

_Kirby couldn't have done it forever._

_But time repeated itself, and on a distant planet, in a faraway town, in another universe,_

_The Warrior rose again._

* * *

Kirby took a nice long deep breath. The breeze tousled his hair lightly and swayed the branches of the tree above him. Specks of light danced on the ground, leaves rustling quietly in accompaniment with the soft chirps of birds.

All was calm. All was serene. From his relaxed position, lying on the grassy hill overlooking the land, he stared up, up at the wispy spiral clouds. The fresh scent of the spring breeze carried with it the promise of peace and quiet. Kirby liked it.

Then, creeping in like an unforetold storm, the sky darkened. Kirby's eyes widened as a large red eyeball peeked out from the mass of darkness, rolling around as if stretching after a nap, then finally, landing on him. The mass of black spread far and wide, lowering, settling into and _corrupting_ the land, the quiet natural beauty of it darkening.

_"Kirby!"_ shouted a few voices in tandem, ever familiar, but ever distant.

But all he could do was stare up at the eyeball, the black cloud, descending on █████████ and engulfing his home—

Kirby gasped, as he sat up on his bed.

The birds were chirping, the sounds of the nearby city awakening with the small _vrooms_ of cars rolling past reaching his ears.

Kirby arched his spine and raised his arms in a satisfying stretch, before letting them flop back down the the soft downy bed. His eyelids still drooping, he raised one hand to rub the fog away from his eyes, and hopefully wake up more fully.

It was another one of those dreams that Kirby couldn't make heads or tails of. So realistic. He could feel the soft bed of grass that padded his back but tickled his skin all the same, the small bits of sun peeking from behind the tree that warmed his skin. The horror of seeing that ominous red eyeball. He didn't know what they meant.

But then again, Kirby was never one for thinking too hard about things.

With a single smooth motion, he hopped out of his bed and landed on light feet. His eyes were wide open now, revealing deep sky blue eyes that reflected the atmosphere of a sunny day and shone with the light of a thousand galaxies in the indigo night sky.

A joyous smile perched on his lips, he made a short futile effort to pat down his puffy pink hair, before bouncing to the kitchen. Standing at the stove was none other than Meta Knight, Kirby's caretaker. His blue hair was brushed down and much more orderly, but he couldn't really say anything about Kirby being messy when he was wearing a literal blanket on his back.

Kirby noted that Meta wasn't wearing a mask today, which meant it was an off day, thankfully. Kirby would get to spend time with him! He smiled, despite knowing that the knight would probably spend half the time teaching him rather than playing with him.

"Good morning, Kirby." The stoic knight turned to face him as Kirby scrambled into his seat at the dining table. "How did you sleep last night?"

Kirby shrugged. "It was alright, I suppose. Another one of those weird dreams." He made a habit of telling Meta most things. The blue-haired knight was, after all, more knowledgeable. "This time was another red eyeball, but with a lot of black stuff? Black stuff, that sank into the ground," Kirby briefly explained.

He wasn't the most eloquent person, but Meta understood. "Hmm," Meta hummed in consideration, probably cataloguing the dream in his thoughts. Kirby was glad Meta did that for him so that he didn't have to. Meta probably had them all memorized to the T, whereas all Kirby knew was that red eyeballs appeared more often than he would've liked. They were creepy.

Other than that, Kirby recalled the appearance of a wasp, a crown, and some star-covered cape. They were odd, but Kirby felt like he had seen them before. Deja vu, perhaps.

It wasn't like villains were uncommon. In their location at Musutafu, villain attacks occurred maybe once a day at least. More, even, with the high concentration of heroes in the area. It's just… none of those villains were large red eyeballs, nor did they make massive beanstalks to worlds in the sky or machines that could rip you apart in seconds—

Scratch the last one out. That was definitely possible, Kirby thought.

He was broken out of his musings by the clinking sound of two plates being placed on the table, piles of steaming hot scrambled eggs and bacon on top.

Taking a large bite, Kirby gave Meta a thumbs up for this one. The corners of the knight's mouth turned up with a miniscule smile, and Kirby grinned.

When breakfast affairs were done and over with, they moved over to the living room, where Meta set up a workspace for Kirby, as the child watched, pouting.

Really, he wasn't a child. He was 16. His outer appearance hadn't changed since he was 12 or 13 though, giving him a much more youthful appearance— not that he complained. It was often better to be considered a child; children were more pampered. Kirby liked it when the people at Meta's hero agency would sneak him a lollipop from Meta's stash (often behind the knight's back).

Kirby wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, but if he was a good fighter, then Meta was an excellent teacher. The hero homeschooled him since he was six, and Kirby had mastered most of English and some of math.

Something about learning from the knight always just felt simple and easy. It was like Meta knew everything about Kirby, from how he thought about and conceptualized certain points to how slow or fast he could calculate something. His homeschooling curriculum had been nothing short of perfect for Kirby, and the fruits of his efforts was a Kirby that, while slow at times, had a deep understanding of the world around him.

That didn't always mean it was fun though, which is why Kirby was pouting. Today he was doing more practice on physics and engineering, something Meta always insisted was important even though Kirby had yet to find an application for it.

Learning wasn't the bad part. It was Meta Knight's drills.

"Finish this problem within the next 2 minutes," Meta commanded.

Kirby didn't.

"Drop down and give me 20 push-ups."

The boy grimaced with annoyance, but still complied. He was up and done before the minute was over without even breaking a sweat, but it was still annoying.

Kirby liked it better when Meta Knight made it a game of sorts, making him climb up trees to find a problem and solve it before jumping back down with the solution to exchange it for a treat. Those had dwindled in the past few years, sadly.

But the real fun always came when Meta Knight's phone would start beeping obnoxiously. Meta's eyes would harden from their soft white-ish yellow into a sort of sharp gold with the alert of a villain attack. His blanket over his back morphed seamlessly into a large collared cape with golden trims, and he went to gather his armor and shoulder pads.

With those equipped, a large M emblem emblazoned on his shoulder pad, he would slip on his metal mask with the chevron eye hole to complete it and be on his way.

Not before Kirby begged to go with too though. Really, more recently, he hadn't even needed to ask; Meta would just automatically assume he was coming. Which, of course, he was.

Meta would pass Kirby some silver and mahogany armor and a smaller round mask, and Kirby would join him as they jumped across the rooftops, toward their location or just scouting.

Kirby loved the feeling of flying. What they did wasn't flying, per se. It was jumping really high and landing after seconds of floating in the air. But still, the feeling of wind ruffling his hair and his floppy sleeves rumpling around as he lifted off, soaring, nothing to hold him back…

In short, it was the most amazing feeling.

His euphoria was broken when Meta landed on a flat rooftop around 4 stories tall, and pointed to a blob of green on the ground, in the middle of a narrow shopping district.

It was a villain, probably with some sort of liquefying quirk on himself. It looked more like a pile of goop with eyes than it did a man.

Kirby squinted at it from the high vantage point they had. And then jumped back when the place exploded into bright orange embers that flashed angrily.

"Be cautious, Kirby. Tempted as you may be to use Fire, remember that you still wear a mask," Meta Knight warned.

Around and nearby, Kamui Woods came on scene, as well as Backdraft. Kirby could immediately tell that Kamui Woods was being burnt as he rushed away, rescuees entangled in his wooden limbs, while Backdraft was struggling to keep the flames at bay.

Every hero had been put in a stand still, and every hero was left standing, waiting, waiting for someone with a more suitable quirk.

It was a slime villain though, so it shouldn't have been able to cause such a large pyre… Kirby's eyes widened as he realized that the slime thingy must've been possessing someone.

They widened even further when he caught a glimpse of a green-haired boy racing towards the mess, arms flailing and legs running sloppily.

To his side, Meta still muttered, having not yet seen the boy in danger. "A slime villain, likely possession. Maybe not the best idea to use a sword here, it might not have any effect on a fluid body— Kirby, wait!"

The boy didn't. He jumped before Meta Knight said anything, fully intent on acting before thinking. Meta Knight sighed. Kirby was always like this. Resigned, he hopped down from his perch as well, Galaxia drawn and poised at the ready.

As Mount Lady arrived on scene to be obstructed by the nearby buildings, so did Kirby, landing in the middle of the fray where the heroes stood, on his red boots from high in the sky with nary an impact, his mini-sword of aqua and white steel drawn.

The sounds of battle rushed into his mind. The crackling flames, shouts for aid, loud instructions, whooshing water, punches filled by the fluid form.

A nearby news reporter relayed the developments: "Rookie heroine Mount Lady has arrived on scene, as well as the number 3's masked sidekick, Mini-Knight! Meta Knight will likely be following soon."

And Kirby jumped into the fray.

The flames were everywhere, their noxious scent filling the crevices of his mask, but Kirby pushed through, hacking at pieces of slime.

There was no give. His blade slipped right through, like a knife through running water. Kirby quickly sheathed his sword on his belt and raised a foot, unleashing a powerful blast of a kick on the green sludge, which parted at the location of impact.

Kirby ran through quickly before the slime regenerated, and kept on going. The eyes were nearing. Kirby could make out the garish yellow fangs and the buggy red eyes illuminated by the rampaging fire.

There. In the middle. An untamed mane of light blond hair and wide, angry red eyes, a bed of fluffy green hair on a worried face of freckles.

"Your eyes seemed like… you were calling for help!" The green-haired boy said, tears overflowing from his eyes, as he desperately clawed at the sludge to no avail.

The sludge formed an arm, a gooey barely-held-together limb of disgusting green substance, raised menacingly in the air, poised to attack—

Kirby rushed forward, he had to do _something—_

_Boom!_

* * *

Smoke burst forth from the explosion, pouring into the street and rolling out, shouts of heroes piercing the air.

There was a moment of deathly silence.

One second.

Two seconds.

The audience watched with bated breath.

Then, the smoke lifted, faded as it floated into the air, and with a momentous burst of white light, new flame was ignited.

On top of the tiny hero's pink bed of hair was a flaming hat. The clasp on the back of his head that held his perpetually worn metal mask was absent.

The crowd gasped. Was the mini hero going to be revealed this day? Was he going to finally be unmasked?

Izuku looked at the sidekick to the number 3 hero, wide eyed. Mini-Knight, as they called him.

Even in such a perilous situation, he could remember clearly that not once had this hero been out without a mask. And now that it was gone, Izuku was staring astonishingly at the face of a child.

He couldn't have been any more than 12. The blue eyes that always glowed ominously cyan below the white metal mask were so deep, filled with emotion. Relief, worry, anger, joy, excitement, so much in so little.

With eyebrows furrowed and a small smirk of determination, the tiny hero stood.

As abruptly as the hat of fire appeared, it had disappeared, dematerialized, left with a mini burst of light.

The slime villain, Katsuki, and Izuku couldn't even see the quick motions Kirby took as he grabbed the aqua hilt of his sword, a new green pointed hat replacing the dancing flames on his head, and with a flourish, a crescent-shaped beam of energy rent through the villain's impregnable fluid body, splitting it.

Katsuki took choked gasps as the sludge villain fell away from him, it's fluids leaving his body as disgustingly as they had entered before, but leaving him this time, lungs finally free.

But as soon as the beam was gone and the smoke started fading more, the hero quickly dashed to where his mask had fallen on the ground. The green hat dispersed as well as he slipped the mask on in a single practiced motion and jumped up to the roof of a nearby building.

What… what was that?

Nobody understood.

The hushed mumbling quickly turned into cheers though, as the large muscular body of the iconic All Might appeared in the street.

The battle quickly ended with the number one hero there.

Heroes scolded Izuku while they praised Katsuki, and neither Meta Knight nor Mini-Knight were anywhere to be seen.

* * *

"Kirby," Meta started.

He already knew what was coming. "I'm sorry." His head hung in slight shame, but he looked back up, determined. "But I will not stand by as people get hurt."

The Knight sighed. "What's done is done. It's alright. You did well."

Kirby looked back up at the Knight, eyes wide with surprise. "I thought you'd be more angry."

Meta Knight was unreadable under the mask. But he rested his hand on Kirby's head, and fondly tousled his hair. Kirby nearly purred.

"I am," he said. Kirby slumped at that. "I expect 100 of each drill when I get home.

But I am also proud. And you did well today."

The boy looked up and grinned at the knight.

* * *

Later that day, Izuku took the first step towards his dream as he accepted All Might's power. Reduced to a crying mess on the ground from his gratefulness, it only occurred to him to ask much later, after All Might had explained his training regiment to him.

"All Might, do you know Mini-Knight? Number 3 hero Meta Knight's sidekick?"

The large hero looked curious, but nodded. "We've worked together once or twice. Why do you ask?"

Izuku frowned. "You know how he unmasked himself today?"

All Might nodded. "I was in the back of the crowd, yes."

"I think the only ones who saw were me and Kacchan, but… he looked so young. Younger than me," Izuku bit his thumb nail in worry. "I mean, I know he's strong, he's been around since halfway through Meta Knight's career, but has he been trained? Is it safe for him? How did he get there?"

All Might placed a spindly hand on his chin, considering it.

He hadn't seen it up close, but if what Midoriya said was true and a child was working as a hero— no, vigilante— then he needed to be reported. Heroism was not a game, and if a child was out there, then he could only think that the pro heroes must've been doing something wrong.

Though, he didn't want to discredit the hero. He had accomplished multiple feats in his time alongside Meta Knight, and to stop someone of such high potential seemed like such a waste. All Might was not lying when he said that he had worked with him once or twice. While it was always in the presence of his mentor, number 3 hero Meta Knight, he himself was also given ample time to shine.

The child— how had he not realized before? He was too ridiculously small to be considered an adult even with the variety of quirks in the world, too joyous and naive to be fighting so much crime in the world— he was still strong. He showed the same enhanced physical strength as his mentor, and a certain deftness in fighting that told of years of experience— more than he should have.

He frowned.

"—debuted 4 years ago without an official name but alongside then number 5 hero Meta Knight during a small robbery, quirk unknown but jumps high and has enhanced physical strength and endurance—but that fire hat? And the beam of energy, no one else in the vicinity had any sort of quirk so it must've been Mini-Knight's but—" Midoriya mumbled next to the number one hero.

He poked the boy, startling him out of his musings.

"Ah! Yes, what?" Midoriya jumped, hands gesticulating wildly in surprise.

"Calm down, my boy." All Might was impressed at Midoriya's thinking, but it was excessive. "I'll report it and get back to you on it."

* * *

Meta Knight picked up the phone, knowing that he had to.

He huffed. He didn't usually get called by the Hero Association unless it was concerning his pay.

_"Is this Pro Hero Meta Knight?"_ asked the robotic-sounding person on the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is he," Meta replied. "What is this about?"

"_Your undocumented sidekick, unofficially termed Mini-Knight, has been charged with underage vigilantism and illegal quirk usage. Please bring him in for a discussion of the consequences."_

Meta Knight nearly swore. Of course this would happen. "He will not serve jail time, correct? Vigilantism is punishable but he has followed all other Hero guidelines," he tried to reason.

The voice on the other end of the line sighed. "_We dislike this just as much as you, sir. Rest assured that he will not be imprisoned. We just need to have him authorized for duty as soon as possible."_

With a click, the line died, and Meta was left contemplating the options. He pinched his nose bridge. Of course the one time Kirby revealed his face to save someone, he'd end up causing something like this. They had such a good system going, too.

"Kirby!" He shouted in his no-nonsense voice, still standing next to the phone. "Come here! We need to talk!"

Light footsteps sounded from the hallway of Kirby's bedroom as the boy rushed to where his mentor was. When Meta Knight used that voice, it was in his best interest usually to follow Meta Knight's instructions, or risk frustrating the knight even further. Kirby wanted a not-disgusting dinner tonight, thanks.

"Yes?" He breathed as he halted in front of the knight.

Oof. Meta was pinching his nose. That meant Kirby was in for it. "How many people saw you unmasked today?"

Kirby looked up, recalling the moment. It was quick, okay? He didn't really remember off the top of his head, but… "three, I'm fairly certain," he replied. "Just the blond guy, the kid with green hair, and the sludge villain."

Meta raised an eyebrow. "You're certain?"

Kirby nodded slowly, unsure where this was going. "... yes?"

Sighing, the knight pointed to the phone. "I just got a call from the Hero Association. It appears you've been reported for underage vigilantism and illegal quirk usage."

Oh, heck no. Kirby's eyes widened. "Did one of them report me?"he asked quickly. If he was stopped from going out with Meta Knight again, or there were any worse repercussions, Kirby didn't know how he'd ever do anything again.

"One would assume so, if they're the only three to have seen your face," Meta Knight reasoned, voice calm and steady as Kirby panicked. "You've been requested to meet them and discuss your punishment, though it shouldn't be anything too serious," he explained.

Oh no.

* * *

**Herro! Back with yet another Kirby crossover (in gijinka form again), but don't read my other one; I'm considering deleting it. Anyways, as usual, the Kirby fandom severely lacks crossover fics, and I seek to rectify this, so here's a crossover with BNHA. I hope you read through! I assure you that it'll be pretty different from the usual 'character A joins class 1-A.' At least I hope so. I'm trying my best!**

**This is actually inspired by carloshbaroni's _My kirby academia_, which I enjoy quite a bit. The grammar is rough, but the ideas were really great, so I wanted to try something.**

**With all that said, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please leave a review, fav, and/or follow! Reviews absolutely make my day, and I'll try to respond to all of them! (^-^)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Eyyy it's an update! **

**First, responding to some reviews:**

Dante Watterson: Here you go! You'll definitely be seeing more in the future! I really like crossovers, especially with one (1) intergalactic omnipotent puffball.

Guest: They really are! I wish more people appreciated the Kirby lore. I don't think many people look that deep into it, but I like to try my best! If I have time to, I'll continue it the best I can! Chapter 3 is already partially written :3

Arthron1911: asdsdfkljh I didn't expect anyone to recognize me from my tumblr oh my god? I'm really glad you like my art! Did you see this from my KirbyxMHA and KirbyxKNY post? I hope you don't mind my mediocre writing lol I'm not as good at it as I am at art, but I also just don't have time to make comics for my ideas :( Anyways, hope you keep on enjoying!

carloshbaroni: :D Thanks for what you do on _My kirby academia_! I do still think it's a bit rough on the corners. Have you considered getting a beta reader? Either way though, I really enjoyed the idea. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

suntan140: Eyyyy well here's the next chapter!

**Shameless self plug, I'm on both tumblr and insta otaku553 if you want to check out my art. I am a much better artist than I am a writer, imo. I do a lot of Kirby gijinka art, if that's your cup of tea.**

**Sorry for spradic updates, school is killing me XP but I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Of course, Meta decided it was best to get this out of the way soon, so as soon as he'd finished explaining the circumstances, he quickly threw Kirby's armor at him and ushered him into the car.

"Why are we going in hero attire?" Kirby asked, despite already pushing his forearm-plates into position. It seemed like a hassle after having already changed out of it.

Meta Knight 'hmph'ed from the driver's seat next to him as the car started. "Appearances dictate a lot of character to people. Would you like them to see you as a child or as a hero-in-the-making?"

Kirby huffed as he slipped on his mask. "Well it's not like I can help it if I look young, but of course the latter." And he puffed his cheeks indignantly. "Hero-in-the-making? I'm already a hero."

They stopped at a red-light just then. Meta Knight took advantage of the break in driving to lift a finger and tap Kirby's forehead— or at least, the forehead of Kirby's mask— making him giggle despite how tense he was at the moment. Kirby knew the knight was smiling reassuringly beneath his mask.

"Not in the eyes of the government, you're not," Meta replied. "Not without a hero education or at the very least, certification."

For a moment, they sat in silence; the only sounds in the air were the rumbling of the car and Kirby's nervous fidgeting.

Kirby broke it. "What do you think will happen to me?" his voice was the slightest bit shaky. He hoped Meta Knight didn't hear it.

The knight sighed. "I don't know, Kirby," he answered honestly. "But I'm sure it won't be terrible. Things have a way of working themselves out."

* * *

Kirby didn't want to go in, so when they parked and he inevitably had to, he walked as slowly as he could. Meta's reassuring hand rested on the back of his armor, and Kirby took a deep breath.

Truth be told, Meta had warned him before. Getting his license just seemed like such a hassle, especially since he had been homeschooled, and there were more procedures to follow. All he wanted to do was to help others, and he was. Kirby was no stranger to the occasional fan meeting him on his patrols with Meta Knight, thanking him for saving them or doing something.

So why? Why did he need recognition from the government? Was it because of his quirk? He knew his quirk inside out, thank you very much. Meta was very adept at making sure he knew it inside and out like the back of his hand— even his copy ability, which had been hidden from the public since his initial debut at age 13.

Why did he have to bother when he was already a hero? When he could be out there doing more? He didn't even need to be paid; all he wanted was to _help_.

_Why did he even become a hero anyways? _Kirby found himself contemplating. He didn't really remember. Was it just because Meta encouraged him to? Or was it because he actually enjoyed it? Sure, he enjoyed jumping across rooftops and the freedom that came with it, but it wasn't such a big plus on its own.

It was a sense of duty, Kirby decided. Something in him that told him that it was something that just had to be done. Did that sound right? Or, no, maybe it was out of habit. It was like people were counting on him to be out there. It was like if he wasn't, the world would crumble, as irrational as it seemed.

Kirby was broken out of his musing as he walked into the office of the Hero Association. It was a busy place, with people running left and right, telephones ringing, lines of people sitting at tables, doing whatever they did.

Kirby could almost distract himself from his worry by watching these people scurrying around. But with Meta Knight's hand still on his shoulder, some person dressed in a standard white button-up and tie led them to a smaller room with a table and a few padded chairs.

All in all, better than Kirby expected. As soon as he walked in, he found it to be more of a person's tidy office than an interrogation room— which would have made him absolutely terrified if that were the case; thank goodness it wasn't.

He and Meta took adjacent seats on one side of the desk as they waited, Kirby sinking deeply into the cushion while kicking his legs to release some nervous energy.

With nothing better to do, he stared at the sky. It was already afternoon, close to the sunset. He could see how orange started bleeding into the pale blue sky, clouds drifting lazily by, illuminated a warm yellow by the glowing sun sinking into the horizon.

It was a good distraction; Kirby loved the sky. And then, his head snapped to look behind him when he heard the click of the opening door.

"I apologize for the delay," the man who walked in said. He looked exceedingly… average, if Kirby had to describe him. The man's black hair was relatively short, and he had plain square-ish eyes of the same color.

"My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, I'm friends with the one who reported you, so I've been put in charge of this case," he said, tone light and calm. Kirby's tense posture loosened a bit, but he still fidgeted with his toes and fingers.

Detective Tsukauchi smiled. "Well, I call it a case, but it's more a stern warning and lecture about the recommended path, anyways," he explained. "We can't have vigilantes running all over the place after all, but they're free to legally become a hero if they wish, to avoid the heaviest of consequences."

Kirby dutifully kept his head bowed in respect as Meta had taught him when addressing superiors or elders, but if his head raised the tiniest bit from his elation, then Meta didn't mention anything.

The knight himself sighed in relief. "I see. Good. I've seen to it that he will not go out again without a license, so please spare us some time and tell us what he should do to get his license as soon as possible." Meta was not spending more time here than he had to.

"Quick and to the point, I see," the detective said. "Well, first off, it would be nice to see who is underneath the mask of Mini-Knight, seeing as the charges were only pressed because we didn't have Mini-Knight as a registered hero. We still don't actually know who he is, so if you please."

Kirby took that as his cue to take off his mask, doing so hesitantly. This somewhat solidified his charge, but it would be alright. Now that he knew that it wasn't too bad, he felt a lot safer.

Kirby noted that the detective looked surprised. He hid it quickly though, quickly schooling his facial features back into a neutral calm expression.

"Thank you," he continued, pulling out a notepad. "Now we still need to get you documented, so name and age?"

"Hoshino Kirby, 16," the boy answered.

Detective Tsukauchi's eyes widened, and he mumbled, "16? We might be able to do that, then."

A fresh wave of panic hit Kirby. Do what? Did his age play a large factor in something? Was he going to be punished after all?

The detective continued. "Quirk?"

"Lightness and strength," he answered absentmindedly.

He couldn't see the approving look from Meta out of the corners of his eyes. Meta Knight had always insisted on keeping a trump card secret, for two reasons.

Firstly, it was a trump card. It was meant to be kept secret. Meta's was his wings. They were some sort of morphable fabric that was still part of his body, so his cape could turn into wings if needed. But they rarely were, so he relied on his sword. Kirby's was his copy ability. It may have limited his arsenal in public, but it would count for a lot when he might fight a challenging enemy in the future.

Secondly, he knew that having multiple quirks was considered powerful, but it would also put them under suspicion for association with All for One, which was not something they needed. Meta decided that they would reveal them when they were absolutely necessary— if they ever were. Both of their strength enhancements and lightnesses allowed them a lot more power than the average hero already.

Meta continued his passive thoughts as he watched Kirby answer the rest of the questions numbly, waiting for the verdict.

To Kirby, it felt like ages of waiting, relaying fact after fact in response to one-word prompts. When Detective Tsukauchi finally put the notebook down, Kirby chanced a look up. The man still had a good-natured smile on his face, as he gestured in someone from the entrance.

The door clicked open. Kirby turned around in his seat, palms a bit sweaty.

And he met eyes with a small white animal in a suit.

"Hello!" the tiny animal… man(?) said, voice high pitched as one would expect from a rodent. "It's nice to meet you! I came to see if I could do anything, but from what I've heard, it seems I can do more than I thought!"

Kirby looked towards Meta Knight, uncertain. He'd been keeping silent for the entire meeting so far, letting Kirby answer the questions and only stepping in as Kirby's guardian if the boy himself didn't know an answer, but now, Kirby could tell from the way his eyes were more open than usual behind his mask: this wasn't something bad.

That put Kirby more at ease.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the animal said, an intelligent glint in his eyes. "My name is Nezu. Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? I'm the principal! To UA, that is." The line sounded practiced.

Kirby's mouth formed an 'o'. UA was the hero school. Did that mean…

Detective Tsukauchi looked at Kirby. "You've probably guessed it by now, but the easiest way to get a license is joining a hero school. With your past accomplishments, it only makes sense to place you in UA."

In that moment, Kirby first felt overwhelming _relief._ It wasn't something terrible! It was something reasonable, and not too bad, actually! He belatedly realized that school meant sitting still for 6 or more hours of an entire day, listening to and likely falling asleep to repeated lectures.

Though, that didn't matter at the moment! School! Not jail, but school! He brightened immediately, eyes twinkling with excitement.

Meta Knight eyes had softened in what seemed to be relief. Kirby was glad nothing too serious happened. He knew he could've also put Meta's job at risk, since Meta was the one to agree to bring him out on patrols or important battles.

Nezu took a seat and started hashing out more details with the present parties. Who would mainly be Meta Knight, his guardian.

Kirby respectfully bowed out of this conversation, knowing that most decisions would be left to Meta Knight. He trusted his pseudo-dad-brother with this.

"It's only a third through the school year so far," Nezu explained, "So it would be a good time to join, since most classes are starting new topics. I'm sure you'd be able to catch up. The only worry is Hero Classes. I assume having live experience and learning under number 3 hero Meta Knight should cover the basics learned in year 1 at least though."

"If I remember correctly," Meta Knight interjected, "Year 1 mostly covers mobility, evacuation, and the basics of combat, correct?"

Nezu nodded. "Rescue is covered in detail, and combat is mostly focused on creative quirk application and developing special moves based on that."

Kirby nodded to show that he was still listening. He'd done more combat with Meta Knight than anything, since Meta was more combat oriented as a hero, but he was no stranger to rescue after 4 years of hero work.

"Second year has started going more in depth into martial arts and other good combat practices, with a sprinkling of review from the previous year. Besides hero classes, we also allow more internship periods, so there will be a time period of several weeks during which students get live experience working with heroes."

Kirby's smile lit up. That meant he could be out in the field with Meta again sooner than he expected!

"Though, you will have to test for your provisional license first," Nezu immediately said afterwards. Kirby's figurative bubble was popped. "It should be no challenge though," he explained. "It usually involves 2-3 stages of hero-related work, and only 3 students of 20 in 1-A failed last year. You'll probably be taking the test with them."

Meta nodded. "I assume this isn't just a free pass? It would be unfair to the other students."

"Of course," the principal responded. "Hoshino will still have to take the standard entrance exam and a possibly specialised physical exam to make sure he is ready, but I have no doubt he will be. I'd schedule it for during the summer break the students are going to be in after this week, so that he'll be able to wander the school without disturbing the students."

"And what of other details? Students usually send in their own hero costume designs, correct?"

"Hoshino could do that as well!" Nezu was jovial in explaining everything. "I assume he already has a costume he has been using, but if he'd like an official one, he is free to submit a design to the Support Department. He'll have to use the UA tracksuits for the time being until it is finished, but Support works fast; it would be done by the end of the week."

When all was said and done, it was decided that Kirby would transfer in when the new trimester began, and make preparations to take the provisional license exam. The sports festival had already passed, so Kirby wouldn't be able to put his name out there, but he always had Meta Knight— and was probably planning on going with him in the first place.

Meta and Kirby left the Hero Association building at night, when the half moon was already high in the sky. It was a shame the light pollution was too strong to see the stars, Kirby lamented. The stars were always an absolute treat to see.

Kirby yawned, stretching his whole body out.

That was way longer than he thought it would be, but considering he wasn't spending this beautiful night in a jail cell, Kirby was satisfied.

He hummed a short melody and bounced up to Meta's side as they walked towards the car. Meta had changed out of hero attire in one of the changing rooms in the building, so that they wouldn't be hounded by anybody as soon as they left (since reporters tended to stake out the hero association building for news if they were that desperate).

Even though the bottom half of Meta's face was covered, Kirby could still see—or at least imagine— the smirk as Meta looked down at him.

"Are you sure you want to celebrate?" He asked, a certain coyness to his voice. "You'll be going to school."

Kirby paused. "I'm going to be going to school," he mouthed to himself. He knew they were talking about it the entire afternoon, but it now set in. "I'm going to be going to school."

Kirby pouted, as he hadn't done before. "I won't be able to stay awake for a second!" He whined, knowing Meta Knight was struggling to have back a snicker. "I have to sit in a chair for 6 hours straight! No!"

"Didn't you dislike doing drills with you math problems?" Meta poked Kirby in the head.

If at all possible, Kirby's pout got stronger. "Yeah, but that's better than _sitting_!"

The ride home, they joked about Kirby doing push-ups in the middle of a teacher's lecture or Meta forcing an entire class to do jumping jacks when a single person got something wrong.

It was an overall enjoyable night.

* * *

A week later, Meta Knight and Kirby pulled up on the parking lot to UA. Nervous to think about anything else, but still determined and confident as he rolled over some concepts Meta had just reviewed with him, Kirby didn't have much time to take in the splendor of the school's four interconnected glass towers.

Meta Knight ushered the boy in through a side gate, for which he had been given the access key for the day. He didn't want to be caught by the stray occasional reporter camping at the front gates after all. While it was a weekend and not many people were there, Meta was not one to take his chances.

The school was eerily silent on the weekend he had chosen to do this. Granted, it was the week of break time before the second trimester began, so nobody really wanted to be at school.

As he walked through the grand vacant halls, Kirby fidgeted with his fingers, steps bouncing without his usual joy and lightness. Nezu did say they'd be willing to accept Kirby, but that was on the grounds that Kirby passed their entrance exam fair and square—not that he'd have any difficulty, probably.

The exam completely consumed his mind. He tried to stop thinking about it by distracting himself with his surroundings. UA was so much larger than he thought. The halls were at least thrice— maybe four times— his height, likely to accommodate for students with mutant quirks that made them bigger. They were all painted a light neutral cool grey, making Krby shiver slightly.

Everything was so clean-cut and modern. It was reminiscent of something he couldn't quite place, though he recalled that things there were made of a lot more… dark metals?

He hit his palm as it came to him. This was the sort of thing he'd only find in a dream.

Though, as he took a look at his right side, he resolved that he would do so a _lot _more if he came to this school.

The glass panels on the building's exterior were not for show, and stretched from floor to ceiling, giving a wide, unblocked view of the vast city skyline outside of the school, which was in an advantageous position on a tall hill. Even better though, Kirby looked up.

The clouds drifted and swirled in the skies, inching lazily along in the light breeze. The sky was a pale blue today, since he'd come in the morning, while the sun was still relatively low. It was a peaceful, calm view, one that assuaged his anxieties and made him feel that _everything was going to be alright._

Did Kirby mention he loved the clouds?

Palms less sweaty and gait considerably less jittery, Kirby lowered his gaze back to right in front of him, where Meta's back was getting farther away. He ran a bit to catch up to his mentor.

Finally, they stopped at a ridiculously tall and brightly-colored door, where Kirby took his bag of materials and settled into a desk in the front. A man was already in there, somewhat nondescript and seemingly expecting the boy.

Finally getting past the standard instructions for the test — "Do not share the answers anywhere or your score will be cancelled," "open up your answer sheet to page 3 to fill in these blanks about yourself," etc. — Kirby began with vigor in his eyes.

What Meta had him working on was luckily above the average by several grade-levels, so Kirby blew through the exam with no sweat.

Thank goodness for Meta's custom-tailored curriculum. Kirby didn't know what he'd do without it. He took the last ten minutes to review his answers and make sure he was confident.

The man that Kirby didn't recognize collected Kirby's paper with a small reassuring smile. Kirby smiled back, calm. That went well!

Done with the written section, Kirby was led to an empty city, where a few heroes— teachers, Kirby's mind reconciled— awaited.

He marveled at the vastness of the virtual city. He'd been led in from one entrance, but as soon as he stepped in, if he didn't look back, he would've thought he stepped through a portal. The buildings were all tall and gray, uniform across the cement ground.

When he was done taking in the sight of the facility, Kirby finally looked at the teachers. He recognized almost all of them, having worked with most of them once or twice. He hoped none of them knew him though… that would be awkward. As he catalogued each hero/teacher, his eyes shifted between familiar figures, each more recognizable than the last.

Among the crowd was Present Mic, who had an ever-present smirk, Ectoplasm, who displayed unmovable stoicism, Nezu, who had his hands— paws (?)— behind his back, Midnight, who grinned at the boy… and another man with scraggly black hair and a thin gray scarf.

Kirby had to stifle a snicker. He had no idea _Eraserhead_ was teaching here, but the thought made him want to laugh. That man, who didn't even have the slightest semblance of a responsible adult?

Well, Kirby knew it was Eraserhead at least, but he didn't say anything. Eraserhead usually had his goggles out; Kirby only knew it was him because at some point he had collaborated with Meta on an underground mission.

Kirby was still a bit salty that he hadn't been allowed to go on that, but he understood.

Nezu stepped forward from the panel of heroes. "Welcome, Hoshino Kirby! This will serve as your physical test to determine whether or not you can join UA's hero course." He gestured to the other teachers. "All of us here are aware of your circumstances, so instead of the usual robot villain battle, I've chosen one teacher for you to fight against."

Oh. They knew. Kirby bit on his lips. That was… well, awkward? Kirby worked with them before. And now they'd be teaching him.

"Nice to put an actual face to the mask, listener!" Present Mic exclaimed, loosening the tension Kirby felt. "It's not much different from usual anyways!"

Right, Kirby nodded, feeling a bit better. It wasn't different. When he was still new to being a sidekick, the heroes would give him tips and tricks— things like how to avoid pesky reporters in the last minute or how to prioritize who to fight.

Really, now that he thought about it, it was a wonder he was never figured out until now. Nova knows he acted a lot like a child in their presence..

"And you will be fighting… Cementoss!" The cheery principal announced. A large blocky-looking man with narrow eyes and gray skin held up a hand in greeting.

Kirby grinned. "Alright! When do we get started?"

Nezu politely stepped back. "Whenever you're ready."

Kirby took the opportunity to do a few more stretches. As Meta taught him, having some time to prepare was good, even if Kirby wasn't the thinking type. He did things better in the heat of battle, and didn't really analyze like Meta would.

With that said, Kirby and Cementoss made their way to a wider area, an intersection of sorts, as the teachers stood aside.

"Ready!" Called our Present Mic, voice booming across the empty city. Kirby gave his arms one last stretch and wrapped a hand around the wooden short sword attached to his waist.

"Set!" He crouched lower, legs itching to just move forward. His right arm went into a comfortable position in front of him, guarded but able to access his sword. He waited.

"_Go!"_

Kirby charged.

The ground beneath him rolled and tumbled as Cementoss crouched to the ground, flat hands coaxing them into volatile waves to disrupt Kirby's run.

He was not deterred. With lightness on his feet, he minimized contact between his feet and the cement waves, keeping most of his movement confined to the air. He progressed forward, sword in hand.

Seeing that his tactic wasn't working, Cementoss left the ground in uneven bumps and started making walls. Kirby watched in fascination as the cement erupted out of the earth and stacked on top of itself, turning into solid thick blocks that he'd have to get past.

Kirby smirked. Walls they may have been, but tall enough they were not. With a quick crouch and spring up of his legs, he flipped over the barrage of walls and drifted around to Cementoss's back.

Not to be caught off guard, the cement hero whirled around, immediately casting another few walls to block Kirby. With his defense set, he started going on the offensive, manipulating the cement ground into large rounded spikes protruding from the ground lightning-fast. Kirby hopped backwards and drifted to a light landing meters away.

The battle did not lull for long as the pink-haired child vaulted over the spikes, using each rounded tip as a stepping stone to add height, before jumping up into the sky, wooden sword brandished and ready.

Cementoss hastily brought up a domed shield, blocking the mini-hero's attack. But Kirby had had enough of finding his way around. As he fell from the sky, with a quick downward slash, he dented the concrete shield. Minuscule pieces of debris flew through the air as the reinforced wood clashed with the cement.

When the cement did not give, Kirby bashed it again, making the ground quake, and once more before it crumbled, revealing that Cementoss had stepped aside, and what instead awaited Kirby was a pit hole, a trap.

Kirby calmly fell into it, a light plop sounding as his feet touched down, the city above now a mere speck of light above him. Huh.

He crouched with the tension of a tightly coiled spring and sprung out, zooming into the air almost as if flying.

Things felt suspended in the air for a moment. Everything was clear to Kirby, every speck of debris and dust floating in the air, remains of his battle. The baffled faces of the teachers as they watched him rise. Cementoss's own quick movements to place a hand on the ground before Kirby met him.

Kirby grinned, wooden sword poised, arm coiled back, ready to strike.

_Smack!_

* * *

Cementoss was fine. He didn't expect to be hit with so much force, but he wasn't made of cement for nothing. Most of the impact was easily absorbed.

Kirby was strong, he observed throughout the battle. No doubt the other teachers saw it as well. The boy, while not thinking much about strategy or anything of the sort, had easily managed to put himself in advantageous positions.

Finding his way around every wall Cementoss had made was an excellent show of mobility and speed, and even as he did so, the boy showed no signs of being worn out, as Cementoss had planned.

If it was a battle of attrition, the pro hero was sure he was second to none other than maybe All Might himself. His cement quirk allowed for almost unlimited use with minimal— if not nonexistent — drawbacks.

Yet he felt that Kirby was close behind.

When he'd put up that done, he'd made sure to reinforce it several times from the inside, where Kirby couldn't see. To his astonishment, the boy had managed to break through it quicker than he could fix or reinforce it, leaving the hero to plan B. The pit hole.

He knew that Mini-Knight could jump, but in such limited space, it was all the more impressive.

It was a shame the child hadn't applied earlier before resorting to vigilantism. With his skill and talent, he would've undoubtedly been accepted into 1-A — though on second thought, Aizawa had already expelled all twenty of them, so maybe not.

As Kirby got cleaned up and changed, Cementoss reported his findings to Nezu, who had his little ever-present smile from knowing something no one else did, despite all the teachers being in the know about this.

The door to the control room they waited in clocked open, and all teachers turned, expecting to see the pink hair of their new student.

In Kirby's place, however, they found a blue haired knight.

* * *

Kirby bounced to the car in joy, Meta beside him walking calmly in contrast.

"I passed, I passed!" He cheered in a singsong voice.

Meta ruffled his hair proudly from behind him. "As if you ever thought you wouldn't," he retorted. They would've been fools to not accept Kirby.

* * *

**Attempt at a battle scene. Successful? No? Lemme know!**

**So because Kirby needs his license as soon as possible to get back on the job with Meta, he's transferring in at a bit of an unusual time. I hope I got the trimester system right? I heard that they use trimesters in Japan but I wasn't entirely sure. **

**And what's Meta doing talking to the teachers? :0**

**Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a fav, follow, or review! Reviews are very appreciated, and I'll try to reply to all the ones that I get!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to smallroo, DanteWatterson, VolcanicFlare, DivineWhiskey, and Reversus12 for reviewing!**

smallroo - Haha yep! Aizawa is a cutthroat teacher, I think it was mentioned somewhere that Class 1-A the year before Midoriya's class was entirely expelled. This is also why Kirby's going to be in 2-A instead of 1-A. He can't really learn anything when there's no class.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Dante Watterson - If you mean interactions with the class 1-A in canon, like, Midoriya's year, then you're going to have to wait a bit! The events have been happening so far right after the slime villain, so remember that Midoriya is still in middle school.

VolcanicFlare - Thanks! I'll try my best to keep up with decent fight scenes!

DivineWhiskey - Thanks for the suggestion! I did consider making Kirby a TA, but the point is he needs to get his license, meaning he has to actually go through school. And don't worry, he's not going to be in 1-A! Just because he's in school now doesn't mean the teachers have forgotten who he is. They'll take his skills and experience into account.

Reversus12 - :D human Kirby absolutely needs more representation! And I'm glad you enjoyed the fight! I thought the robot fight was a bit unreasonable when testing a single person, because the robots are mostly used for a large-scale test, since they're testing tons of people at the same time for entrance exams. A fight against an actual hero-teacher would give them more information to work with here, which is why they decided on that. I'm trying to make my story different from others, which is why I'm not following the standard template of "character joins class 1-A." I hope you continue to enjoy this!

**without further ado, here's the chapter!**

* * *

A week later came time for Kirby to head to school for the first time in his life, ironically at age 16. Kirby got up bright and early as he usually did, and changed into his new uniform.

He examined himself in the mirror. His uniform wasn't quite as he'd like it, honestly. It was gray, with green accents and gold buttons. It was probably obvious in his choice of always wearing pink sweaters, but pink was more his color than gray. Gray was just… solemn.

Maybe solemn wasn't the right word. Boring? But boring didn't describe why he felt so sad when seeing the color.

Either way, he at least had gotten the uniform customized to his preferences. Meaning, it was maybe 5 sizes too large for his childlike frame, trimmed at certain places so that he had hands and feet and didn't look like a walking pile of cloth. He liked the bagginess and the way the shoulder seams weren't tight around his arm.

He liked his range of movement very much, thank you.

What resulted was him looking something more like a child dressing up as a UA student for Halloween, but what could he do? He'd be fine anyways.

Giving his uniform blazer one last check to make sure everything was in order (Meta would fuss to no end if it wasn't), he finally bounded out of his bedroom and to the kitchen, where Meta was again making a hearty meal for breakfast.

As per usual when the hero had to go back to work, the television was on and set to the local news channel, which had 24/7 coverage of new villain attacks and events. The news lady droned on in the background.

"Are you ready?" Meta Knight absentmindedly asked as he multitasked frying a few eggs while watching the news.

"Mhm!" Kirby hummed in affirmation. "Got all my stuff."

The knight turned back to the eggs, which were sizzling and almost burnt. "You have your notebooks? Folders? Pencils and extras?"

Kirby nodded. "All in my backpack," he confirmed. When Meta turned back to his eggs though, Kirby petulantly stuck out a tongue. He knew what he was doing. He was 16, not 6. Granted, it _was_ his first time going to school, but Meta had to be the most Extra™ mom there was.

Later, when he and Meta both boarded the small car to get to UA, Kirby was glad Meta'd checked. He went through his backpack one more time, slightly nervous.

What _was_ school like? Was it anything like the way Meta taught? Would they make him do sit ups if he didn't answer a question correctly? He had a basic knowledge, enough to know he was overthinking it right now, but he was nervous. He was allowed to.

Meta decided not to comment on the new sweat that beaded on Kirby's face, or his fidgeting digits. He attributed it to nerves. It was the first day, after all. As unflappable as Kirby was in combat, anybody would be nervous over something like this.

He himself was trying something new today too, so that would be… interesting.

He smirked underneath his black half-mask at the thought.

Kirby's head snapped to glare at him, as if the child had some sort of Meta Knight smirk-sensor. "I see you smirking there, Meta!" he called out with a childish but joking pout. Actually, no, he literally didn't. Meta was wearing a mask, for Nova's sake. The knight swore, sometimes that 6th… 7th(?) sense of Kirby's was scarily accurate.

Meta remained silent as Kirby tried to question what he was smirking about. Oh, this would be _so_ much fun.

* * *

Kirby got out of the car with Meta, knowing Meta would insist on coming with him to the main office even if he insisted otherwise. Sheesh, Meta was a hero; he should've already been outside patrolling. When did he get such a long leave from the agency he ran?

Well, if nothing else, Kirby knew Sword and Blade, Meta's right hands and sidekicks when Kirby wasn't around, were competent.

While he would've normally been vibrating with energy— new people, new place, new possible friends and enemies, _wow_— Kirby distracted himself from thinking about school by looking at the clouds again. The sky was a shocking bright blue today, that made it seem like summer was at its peak, despite the autumn chill starting to crawl into the atmosphere.

The clouds calmed him, made his walk a light gait rather than a bounce as he and Meta passed the large gate, which was open for the entering students.

His view of the wispy white cirrus clouds was interrupted with a shock of reflective glass, prompting Kirby to finally take a good look at the wonder that was UA.

Yes, he had been there for the exam, but he never really got a chance to see its towering form up front, glistening in the sun.

It was so grand. Large, bold, taking up all his attention now that it blocked the view of the sky. Kirby continued craning his head upwards even as he and Meta finally neared the doorway and entered.

With Meta's hand on his shoulder blade and a light guiding push behind him, Kirby took the elevator to the 4th floor, where the principal's office was.

When they entered, Nedzu was poised on his chair, expectant. Kirby waved, a combination of meekness due to nervousness and confidence from his normal joyfulness.

"I'll be going now, then," Meta said as he left Kirby alone in the room with Nedzu.

Nedzu smiled. "Ready for your first day?"

Kirby nodded, half enthused and half anxious. "I wonder what everyone will think about me," he admitted.

Nedzu nodded. "It's only natural. We haven't told any of the students about your circumstances though, and it's been kept from the news, so it's your choice to reveal Mini-Knight, if you choose."

Kirby was exceedingly grateful. Not that he wanted to keep things from his new classmates, but he was given the choice, the freedom to do what he'd like with that information, and he was glad for it.

He pondered on it a bit. It honestly wouldn't be that bad if he revealed himself. The worst that could happen would be him being alienated from his classmates because of it, but he doubted things would get that bad anyways. Kirby was, by nature, a very social person.

Though, there was one problem.

"What do I say if they ask me why I transferred?" Kirby suddenly asked.

Nedzu made a hum, indicative of his thought. "I suppose you can figure something out, can't you?" He proposed.

Kirby adamantly shook his head. "I don't like lying, can you help me please?"

Eventually, it was decided that Kirby could say he was recommended to the school by someone he didn't know. It wasn't technically a lie, since he'd been recommended by the police— but had no way of knowing who actually recommended him, since it was the decision of the board on the Hero Commission.

Then, the door slammed open.

"WELCOME TO UA, LISTENER!" came the boisterous voice at the door. Kirby couldn't help but grin as the energetic Present Mic burst through the door.

"Hi, Present Mic!" Kirby responded happily, energized by the presence.

The pro hero's ever-present grin stayed strong as he held up a hand to pinch his mustache. "At UA, it's Yamada-sensei!" he corrected.

Kirby nodded, hopping out of his seat as Mic— Yamada-sensei, he corrected himself— gestured towards the door with the enthusiasm of a child.

"_Let's go!_"

* * *

Wow. That was a really big door.

Not that he hadn't seen the big imposing doors before when he was there to take his entrance exam, but standing straight in front of one as a _student_ felt… different somehow.

Printed on it in large vertical block lettering was _2-A_, Kirby noted. Well, at least he'd know immediately whether he was in the right place or not.

Yamada-sensei shouted a few reassuring and encouraging words to him as the first bell rang, signalling the start of homeroom for the day. The blond teacher's hand left Kirby's back as he instructed the child: "Don't move! I'll call ya in to introduce yourself in a bit!"

Kirby gave a nervous but bright smile. Yamada-sensei was an interesting person. Of course, he'd worked with Present Mic before, and could easily remember the man's lively mannerisms, but he'd never talked with the hero long enough to realize that his Japanese was interspersed with a lot of English.

He looked back to the door as it closed behind his teacher. Now all he had to do was wait.

He was already aware that he'd be placed in the second year, matching his age group, from Nedzu's and Meta's conversation at the Hero Association Office. Something about the first year not being available, whatever that meant. Kirby shook his head. He supposed it was a good opportunity, since he'd be able to get his hero education in about half the time, even if he had to play a bit of catch-up.

Present Mic, true to his name, was loud enough in announcing the news of a mid-year transfer student that Kirby could hear it from the other side of what were no doubt sound-proofed walls.

Kirby clapped his cheeks. No use thinking too hard! That wasn't something he did much. With a renewed smile on his face, Kirby strode into the room, steps bouncing ever-so-slightly in his trademark joyfulness.

The class scrutinised him as he walked in, no doubt sizing up their new competition. Kirby merely stood at the board and wrote his name, before introducing himself cordially but cheerfully, as Meta had taught him.

"Hi! I'm Hoshino Kirby, but just call me Kirby." Always, he started out on that. Formalities were never important to him, and in fact made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm transferring in from homeschooling! I might be a bit behind, but please treat me well!" He took a low sweeping bow, and quickly sprang back up. While leaving his situation vague meant he'd be questioned about it later, he also decided for now not to reveal anything about his vigilantism.

People seemed pretty neutral about his intro all-in-all, and Kirby was fine with that. A few people smiled back good-naturedly, and a few stared blankly.

"Alright!" Yamada-sensei said. "You can take that seat back there, behind Mirio," he pointed towards the back of the room, where a blond boy waved at him.

Kirby quickly took his seat, lamenting that the boy in front of him—Mirio?— was tall. Kirby might not be able to see the board, though he also supposed that would be useful if he ever wanted to take a snooze during class.

The boy turned around to greet him. "Hi! I'm Togata Mirio. Kirby, right? Nice to meet you!"

Kirby's first thought was that his yellow-blond hair was shockingly bright, like a sun, especially when paired with his beaming smile. His greeting was jovial too. He must be a nice person. Kirby returned with a small wave and a grin, electing to stay quiet now that Yamada-sensei was starting English classes.

And _boy_, did the teacher live up to his reputation as Present Mic. Kirby was certain he'd fall asleep in school, but he was way too loud to even get a single wink. It was such an energy-filled experience that it left Kirby just a bit drained afterwards.

Ectoplasm and math came next, and _that_, thankfully, Kirby was able to fall asleep for.

… at least, until the teacher came up to Kirby's desk and knocked him on the head once. Kirby jumped in his seat with a yelp.

"Would you like to explain your fatigue, Hoshino?" Ectoplasm asked drily. "Any reason your eyelids are more interesting than my lecture?"

Kirby gulped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry," he uttered.

Ectoplasm hmph'd and returned to his lesson as Kirby yawned.

By the time math was over, it was lunchtime. People got up from their seats, chattering with each other. Kirby didn't realize that people were walking towards him until he couldn't see the walls, people surrounding him, excitedly bustling.

"Hi! Hoshino-kun, right?" asked the closest girl. "I'm Kagari. What's your quirk?"

"Um, hi! I—"Kirby tried to say before he was interrupted again.

"Hiroshi here! What's your quirk?"

"Yuuki! Hoshino-san, what's your quirk?"

"Uh—"

"Hoshino, I'm Yoshida! How strong are you?"

"Obviously not as strong as me—"

"Shut up, no one was talking about you, Kyoya."

"Um!"

"_You should all give him some space and let him speak!_" Came a loud compelling voice. It didn't take Kirby long to associate it with the sunshine-guy whose seat was in front of him, Togata Mirio. It was loud, powerful, and held a sort of kind forcefulness.

People must have felt the same, since they backed away from Kirby's desk soon afterwards, letting Kirby take a deep breath and lean into his seat.

He started, now that people were quiet and listening. "I'm Hoshino Kirby," he stated with a smile. "Just call me Kirby! I'll take questions one at a time, thanks!"

One girl completely unapologetically began. "'Kay then, Kirby! I'm Kagari! Tell me what your quirk is!" She seemed wholly enthusiastic about this, moreso when the rest of the crowd of 14 or so slumped, having wanted to ask that question themselves, first.

Kirby smiled and answered as he usually would. "Lightness and super-strength. It's not super-flashy, but it does well in battle!"

The girl seemed to have fires in her eyes. "We'll see! I wanna fight ya!"

Kirby held up his hands in a placating manner. "Uh, there's no need to fight!" As much as he enjoyed a tumble here and now, he highly disliked having to fight with no reason. "We're all aiming to be heroes anyways, right?"

A tall boy in the back scoffed at his words. "Yeah? So what? What's the point of being a hero if you aren't strong? You'll need to fight villains, y'know!"

Kirby puffed up his cheeks and furrowed his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. It was alright just knowing that that boy was wrong. He shifted his attention to the one who called herself Yoshida earlier; she seemed to want to ask something.

"How did you transfer in the middle of the year, to the A class of all classes?! That's never happened before; you must be strong!" she inquired, leaning in uncomfortably close.

Kirby leaned back a bit. "I mean, my guardian worked something out I think? I'm here on recommendation," he used the excuse he'd been given by Nedzu and Meta Knight. It wasn't technically a lie, he was reminded himself. Not a lie.

"No way!" Half the crowd shouted. "By who?"

Kirby shrugged slowly, not really sure what to say. "Um, not entirely sure myself?" he tried to throw out to dodge the question.

People were confused at this, but left it well alone. Kirby sighed in relief when they started drifting off one by one after their questions were answered, until just Togata and another girl and boy remained.

Togata gave him a winning smile. "You handled that well, Kirby!"

Kirby smiled meekly back. "Thanks," he replied shortly. He never liked lying, even if it was by omission. It made his palms sweaty.

Kirby was going to leave that be, and then his stomach growled and he remembered that it wasn't question-the-transfer time, it was _lunchtime_. _FOOD!_ Sweet, precious food! He licked his lips as he stood, preparing to make his way to the cafeteria.

And then he realized he didn't know which direction it was in. And everyone else was gone already, having left him behind.

He frowned. He probably should've followed someone out the door...

Then, a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to find the towering form of Togata, ever-present smile unwavering. "Let's go to the cafeteria together! You might get lost!"

Kirby nodded cheerfully with a hum of happiness. Thank goodness he was there.

Togata turned to the other two final occupants of the room, a seemingly brooding dark-haired boy and a cheerful girl with overflowing lavender locks. "Are you guys coming too?"

"Of course, of course!" replied the girl cheerfully. "I have so many questions to ask now that everyone else isn't shoving in front of me!" she exclaimed, as she walked over to their side.

The other boy simply gave a nod, before standing to join.

Kirby looked towards Togata, who hadn't moved yet. What was he doing?

With a large motion, he mimicked one of those exaggerated cartoon walk cycles, swinging his arms in wide gestures and taking a large step. "Onwards!" he declared, the very picture of determination even though they were only walking to the cafeteria.

Kirby grinned, in his childish innocence. "Yay!" he cheered, with the girl's equally joyful "Woohoo!"

As they walked, Togata turned his head over his shoulder to talk. "It's nice to see you're fitting in, Kirby! I assume you've met most of the class from that Q&A session just now!"

Kirby shrugged with a weak smile. "I hope so; I didn't really lean many of their names," he admitted. "They kind of just… asked questions and left?"

Togata looked like he was going to say something, but the girl cut her off. "Well, no worries! You'll have plenty of time to get to know us after all! Hado Nejire, at your service!" She mock-saluted with childish joy.

Kirby grinned at her enthusiasm. "Thanks, Nejire! Can I call you Nejire?"

Nejire nodded eagerly. "Of course, If Imma call you Kirby! Hey, hey, by the way, why do you look so young? Why are you transferring in the middle of the year? You were homeschooled before this, right? What was that like?" she rapid-fired questions with the curiosity of a toddler, Kirby barely keeping up.

Well, he would've had a hard time if he wasn't so much like a child himself, he thought in hindsight. "Part of my quirk I think? And something happened and I need to get my license as soon as possible, so I transferred! Homeschool is fun, but hard and a bit lonely!"

"Wow, you can keep up with Nejire's questions!" Togata marveled from in front of them.

"I don't ask that many questions!" Nejire huffed indignantly from behind him, before returning to her normal contagious cheer. "But anyways, you're super interesting, Kirby! Not many people get recommendations and transfer in in the middle of the year! How was the exam? Was it hard? What'd you do? Was it any different from the normal student's entrance exam? I heard that recommendation exams were differe—"

She yelped in the middle of her train of thought, stopping the boys in their tracks.

They looked to see her hugged tightly by a lively girl, with light, short spiky hair and ear piercings. "What gives, Nejire? You're never late to lunch!" she shouted, while lifting Nejire off her feet.

"Haya, stoooop!" Nejire cried, laughing as she tried to wiggle out of the hug. "I was just showing the new kid to the cafeteria!"

Haya looked over to the group of boys, eyes settling quickly on the short pink-haired boy. "Ah! So he's the one? So tiny and cute!" she squealed.

Kirby backpedaled closer to Togata. He didn't like being smothered with hugs. Thankfully, Haya didn't get much closer. She waved and introduced herself: "Yuyu Haya here, Nejire's best friend!" she said with a grin.

Kirby returned with his own grin and introduction. "Kirby! Hoshino Kirby! Nice to meet you!"

Over in the corner of the group, the black haired boy kept seemingly brooding, Kirby noticed. Togata quickly draped an arm over his shoulder though, effectively dragging him to the center of the group.

"You didn't think you'd be able to just stay quiet in the back, did you?" Togata's smile was mirthful as the black-haired boy scowled.

Kirby waved apprehensively. "Nice to meet you?" he tried. The boy's scowl was awfully intimidation. Not as bad as Meta Knight on his bad days, but scary nonetheless.

The boy stayed silent, mouth quivering slightly as they stood in the hallway. Finally, he mumbled, "Amajiki Tamaki… nice to meet you too… Hoshino-san."

Kirby's mouth formed an 'o'. So he was shy, not annoyed or anything. That made Kirby feel better. The boy gave him the most disarming smile he could.

Togata rejoined the conversation, strong voice and energy contrasting starkly with Amajiki's. "See? Was that so hard, Tamaki?"

"Mirio, stop…" Amajiki muttered.

It was a lunch spent with a lot of laughing and conversation. Kirby found it refreshing. Homeschooling wasn't the most conducive environment for making friends, after all.

Laughing and eating with friends felt so right. Maybe they should try having a picnic at some point? Kirby knew he'd love to see them all smiling together under the wide blue sky.

His mind flashed for a second. In the large, bustling cafeteria's place was a vast, beautiful landscape. A dirt path next to a tree of twisting vines and star-shaped leaves, yellow and blue hills across the horizon. The blue sky, wispy clouds drifting lazily in the breeze ruffling his hair.

In the place of his new friends, a small masked puffball, an even smaller one with a bandanna, both dwarfed by a large, portly penguin.

Kirby felt so happy, so loved. Everything felt peaceful and right in the world—

"—irby? Kirby?"

He snapped out of it. Everything disappeared.

"Are you ok?" Nejire asked with concern in her eyes.

Looking around, he was almost dejected that the beautiful scene had left him, but the concerned expressions of Togata, Amajiki, Nejire and Haya grounded him back in reality.

Kirby nodded dumbfoundedly, raising a hand to his head.

That… that felt like a dream. One of his weird ones. The landscape felt _so so_ familiar but he just couldn't quite place his finger on it. What was that?

He was abruptly pushed forward as a large hand patted —more like slapped— his back. Kirby was certain he'd sputtered as he leaned over his food tray. Just a millisecond later and he probably would've been sent face first into his food…

Was it just him, or did Amajiki snicker a bit?

"Guess you're a daydreamer, huh?" Togata mused happily from beside him. "Nice to see you back on Earth!"

Kirby smiled, the boisterous personality of his new friend already washing away his confusion. It wouldn't do any good to be troubled over this..

* * *

After lunch came Hero Class, the one class where they were able to get out and do some real learning on how to be heroes. Kirby sat in the classroom, legs shaking in anticipation and excitement.

"Hero class usually involves combat this year," Togata explained in the break before the class, "since last year we focused on rescuing people and only got combat training for provisional license exams."

Kirby wondered what they'd do today. Would he get right into a fight today? Would he learn anything?

He was utterly unprepared for the young man with blue hair, a black half-mask and a royal blue jacket walking through the towering door to the classroom.

He stood up and gaped, the rest of his classmates looking at him in confusion. "M-m— "

"Do you have anything you wish to say, Hoshino?" he replied, yellow eyes twinkling with rare mischief as he undoubtedly smirked beneath his mask. "If not, close your mouth and take your seat, please."

Out of habit, Kirby immediately plopped into his chair, the man's authoritative voice having been ingrained into his mind after years and years of homeschooling. Kirby tapped his fingers silently on his desk, a dumb wide grin stretched on his face as he watched the man walk to the front podium and gather his papers together.

"Good day," he began. "My name is Kishi Meta; you will come to know me as Kishi-sensei, I suppose. From today onwards, you will likely see me more often, from time to time. I am a new substitute teacher. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Mumbles passed through the class like a wave, Kirby's behavior striking confusion in his new classmates. Kirby flushed and sank deeper into his seat as Togata, Nejire, and Amajiki turned to look at him.

"Today, I'll be substituting for your hero class. I happen to have a mastery of weapons, so we'll have a training session implementing weapons." Meta Knight was concise but professional in his description.

Kirby almost scoffed. Meta Knight had more than a mastery of weapons; Meta Knight could easily wield any of them in a fight just as proficiently as his famed sword Galaxia, but the class wouldn't hear it from him.

* * *

Kirby followed the students to the changing rooms, marvelling again at how large UA's facilities were. The students never passed up a chance to wear their hero costumes, so Kirby got a good look at all of them.

Some of them wore skin-tight spandex suits, and some of them were more casual. Most included minor embellishments like gloves and such, but they overall seemed so colorful and various, and to some level, heroic, Kirby supposed.

Togata's was bright, in white and gold colors, with a red cape draping over his large back. '1000000' was printed on the front.

Kirby was curious, he couldn't resist asking. "What's that million on the front of your suit?"

Togata looked happy to explain. "My hero name! It's Lemillion!"

Kirby ooh'd at that. "How'd you come up with that?"

"I want to be able to save millions of people, see?" he elaborated. "I want to be a symbol of happiness to people, smile in the darkest times, and show them not to have fear!"

Someone on the other side of the locker room scoffed. "Mighty words for someone who failed the provisional license exam last year," the voice said.

Kirby looked over in the voice's direction, ready to tell him off, but Togata merely placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it! It was my fault I didn't pass anyways," he said.

Kirby was a bit sad to hear the lowered voice. Everything Togata said always seemed so bright and strong, like exclamation points were attached to the ends of all his sentences. That last one was most definitely not.

"I'm… sorry," a low voice mumbled out. Kirby's head swung to a large white-hooded student, pulling a large hood over his head as if hiding behind it. He belatedly realized that it was Amajiki. "It was my fault that you didn't pass," he continued.

Kirby slumped his shoulders at the solemn mood that fell over them. Self-blame was never really fun. Kirby didn't like it, so he resolved to change the topic somehow.

"Your costume is really cool, Amajiki!" he tried. "The hood and cloak look mysterious!" He kept his voice lighthearted and cheerful, combatting the sad gray atmosphere.

Amajiki, if it was possible, shrank further into his large white mantle, but not before uttering a quiet "thanks."

Togata laughed in that boisterous way of his. "His hero name is Sun Eater! Cool, isn't it?"

Kirby wholeheartedly agreed.

In comparison, he opened up his locker. Changing was really easy because his uniform was modified to be just a bit comfier, but still took a slight effort.

When he stepped away, it was in his normal pink half-zip sweatshirt that had a large floppy collar and wide open half-sleeves. His baggy green UA pants had been exchanged for red pleated shorts. All of this was embellished with knee pads, shin guards, fore-arm guards, and finally a belt with a wooden sword on the side.

He looked wholly underwhelming, and would've in fact appeared to be a civilian if not for his sparse armor. He didn't really want to wear anything super special. His casual clothes— the sweatshirt and shorts— were what felt most natural to him.

That said, Meta Knight's mother-henning had thoroughly ensured that Kirby had a habit of wearing armor, even as sparse as it was.

And finally, his sword. It had to be exchanged with a wooden one per the rules of the school and non-lethal weapons, but Kirby had heard from Meta Knight that he could get it back in live-training exercises.

Togata shot him a thumbs up and a reassuring smile as Kirby patted down the minimal wrinkles on his outfit. Then, a few basic stretches— a bend forward, to the sides, to the back, a pull of the arms to the left and then the right, a roll of his head to get the cricks out of his neck— and he was ready.

He walked out last in his class, following closely behind Togata's red cape and Amajiki's white mantle.

* * *

**Alright! How was that? What do you think of Kirby joining 2-A and getting to know the big 3? I hope you enjoyed! :3 I'm not super proud of this chapter honestly, since it's just the necessary introductions to get that out of the way, but tell me what you think.**

**This fits with the timeline, by the way. The year that Midoriya is in his last year of junior high, the big 3 are still in their 2nd year, soon to become 3rd years. This is still a time when they're not known as the big 3 yet, being more mediocre at using their quirks.**

**There'll be some time yet before Kirby interacts with 1-A, but I've got things planned pretty far, so rest assured it'll come!**

**If you enjoyed this, please leave a fav, follow, or review! Reviews make my day, and I'll try my best to respond to all of them! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright! New chapter!**

**Thanks so much to the reviewers! You're all amazing and a large part of my motivation for this fic :3**

**renatoragnan4 - **Well, we'll see, won't we? Kirby's not honestly the best at hiding it, XD he hasn't really changed his hero costume besides being more sparse with the armor. Also, I'm really really glad you enjoy this fic, but please don't put down other fics! I quite enjoyed the ideas of the other one, and while it's rough around the edges, it did inspire me.

**suntan140** \- :3 Mhmmm! Honestly the decision to have Kirby join the Big 3's year instead was such a fluke, I can't believe it went so well for my timeline

**Reversus12 -** I agree! Show-off fics are honestly a bit underwhelming when they become a bit too excessive. Not that I don't like seeing my favorte characters one-up everyone around them, but it's nice to have a balance. I'm hoping that Kirby's will be for the most part that he needs to keep up this identity stuff. I'm not sure I'm conveying it enough, but I want Kirby to not really know who he is or his purpose in the world, I guess? Lemme know what you think!

**carloshbaroni - **eyy! I'm glad you think so! While Kirby's a cream puff and absolutely precious, he's also just a kid who doesn't really know what he's doing since he's never interacted with people his age. I imagine in Dreamland, without social groups and prejudices and such, Kirby had a lot easier of a time making friends. Also I hope you enjoy the shenanigans in this chapter then :3

**smallroo - **hello again to you too! Lol I can't wait for Meta's reveal to the class! That'll be one really fun chapter to write (if I decide to, I don't think I have it planned yet). And Kirby for now is not ging to tell anyone! I dunno if this makes sense, but he thinks it's a bit shameful to have been stopped from doing something that by all means was _helping_ people. He doesn't understand it yet though, so all he knows to do is keep quiet about it and start over. And omg I really don't want to spoil anything but... yea they'll appear at some point.

**DivineWhiskey - **I already have my Dedede planned, thanks! I appreciate all the ideas you have, but until I ask for them, for the most part, I've already planned for them, so I'm sorry they probably won't be incorporated into this fic. You have a ton of great and funny ideas though; have you ever considered writing a fic yourself?

**Squidzi Galaxi - **Kirb is _definitely _the bomb! Thanks so much! I'll try my best to keep characters consistent and keep on writing!

**asdf my comment replies get longer as I go, I'm sorry, without further ado, here's the chapter! **

* * *

"Alright," Kishi-sensei began as the students started filing into the gym. "I see you all have your costumes on. My fault for not specifying earlier I suppose, but you should be in whatever makes you most comfortable."

Kishi-sensei was ridiculously underwhelming when placed next to a group of colorful aspiring heroes. He didn't wear much besides a royal blue cloak, a plain black sweater, and gray pants underneath. If not for his golden eyes, black half-mask, and blue hair, he would've been completely unnoticeable.

Not to mention he was short. Easily shorter than most of the class, besides the few dwarves like Kirby.

The class remained silent, a few people not sure whether or not they should go back in to change again.

Kishi-sensei then shrugged. "The shielding component in most of your costumes will be useful though," he added. "We'll have Recovery Girl on standby if you accidentally hurt yourself. Anyways, take a look at the far wall for now."

Kirby was almost drooling at the wall, which was an _actual armory_. There were swords of all kinds— rapiers, shortswords, broadswords, bokken, shinai, and on top of that, boomerang-shaped blades and rods of all shapes. Kirby could tell that in most students' eyes, they were just unfamiliar tools, but to Kirby, who could use their power, who could immerse himself in their elements and master their every aspect, it was a well of raw energy and power waiting to be exploited.

It was, in short, beautiful. He loved it.

He hoped his eyes weren't twinkling too much as he stared at the wall of weapons. It may have been, considering the way Togata and Nejire looked at him, bemused.

Kirby turned back to Kishi-sensei as he continued explaining the lesson. "I know most of you are more quirk or hand-to-hand combat oriented, so those of you who are can take that side of the gym, where Ectoplasm is waiting. Anyone who would like to try or practice with a weapon, remain here and wait for my instruction."

Kishi-sensei's — Meta Knight's— naturally authoritative voice spurred the students into immediate action. About half the class, including Togata, Amajiki, and Nejire stood to make their way to the other side. Kirby took note. Their quirks were probably powerful.

Kishi-sensei then turned to the rest of the class, where Kirby sat. "Do most of you know what weapon you use or at least have a basic mastery of it?"

Most of the group of 8 nodded, Kirby included, though Kirby knew he was wholly more enthusiastic than the others.

Kishi-sensei nodded. "Good. Then go get yourself situated; warm up and then go through forms. I'll be around to spot-check and correct people."

Kirby immediately sprung up and went to the wall. Oh, so much variety! It was amazing. He didn't have any idea what he'd choose!

Actually, he did. He'd always go for the one he knew best, the one that fit into his hand like adjacent pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

He reached for the nearby sword, just as everyone else left with their variety. Kirby noted that one picked up a bow and arrow, another picked up a staff, etc.

Then, Kishi-sensei walked up with two people, no doubt explaining the uses of specific weapons. Kirby turned to leave them to it and work on his sword skills (which was mostly unnecessary, he'd mastered swordfighting long ago) when he heard the knight's voice behind him.

"Hoshino, practice with the staff. You lack variety."

Well, ouch. Kirby turned and puffed up his cheeks indignantly, but didn't say anything back. Meta was right. The staff was relatively new to him, something he hadn't fully mastered yet.

Then again, his use of the staff was really unconventional. He grinned as he hopped over to a position on top of a large rocky outlook. Perfect.

For now, maybe a warm-up would do.

He test-swung a few times. Left, right, down, up-thrust. Then, he leaned in and grinned.

Right slash into left slash, into an up-thrust, then a flip of his legs back and up, balancing on the staff, before vaulting over to the next raised rock platform, ending with a quick slash downwards, making a crater in the rock.

Taking advantage of his distinct lightness, Kirby touched on the ground shortly and jumped. Rapid flurry of thrusts, then a final attack. Touch down on his feet. A jump, a slash, and then another. Finally, Kirby spun his staff in the air and caught it deftly, slamming its end into the ground with finality.

Kirby smilled. It looked like his skills had improved since last time, when he was still stumbling a tiny bit. He didn't know about the toss-and-spin part at the end.

See, Kirby learned his mastery of weapons in an odd way. It came to him naturally, but in the literal sense. He would remember how to use something as he picked it up. Sometimes it was too early and he would stumble with it like a beginner. Sometimes it was the perfect timing and he knew exactly what to do and how to hold it.

Meta Knight had once theorized that it was something like deja vu. Deep inside, he already knew how to use it, it just needed time and the right environment to unlock itself. It had sounded far fetched at the time, but it honestly made sense.

Case in point, his proficiency with the staff.

The real joy though, came in discovering a new copy ability. For most weapon-type abilities, they would remain unlocked to in until he gained a mastery of it without the hat, at which point the hat would come in, bringing with it new power and new possibilities.

The earliest weapon-ability he got was Sword, and that came to him as naturally as breathing, sleeping, and eating. Meta Knight noted when Kirby unlocked the ability at age 5 that the sword ability allowed him to generate his own sword, change its form, and release beams of energy from it.

Kirby patted his hands off, letting the staff that was rooted into the dirt stand on its own.

He didn't realize he had an audience until the claps started resounding around the gym.

Kirby blinked, broken out of his musings.

Oh. people were watching.

"That was so cool!" one girl said. Kirby recalled that she was… Yoshida? Nods and vague agreements rippled through the gym. Kirby blushed. As used as he was to attention, it was a bit embarrassing that he hadn't noticed any of them earlier. He also grinned widely though, relishing their praises.

To the side, he didn't notice Meta Knight's approving nod.

"Wow! He's strong," Togata declared from the other side of the gym. Amajiki and Nejire stood next to him.

Nejire was beaming. "He really is~ I wonder where he learned how to handle that staff! Do you think he knows any other cool tricks? How did he stay suspended in the air during those thrusts? That was really really cool!"

Amajiki merely nodded.

It went unsaid, but was in the air. He would be a valuable ally for the provisional license exams.

* * *

After Hero class came Hero art studies with Midnight, or Nemuri-sensei as she introduced herself to Kirby.

She made Kirby feel a little bit uncomfortable. Her knowing smile and glance every time he knew the answer to something about a recent hero made him squirm just a bit.

With ten minutes left in class after her lecture and nothing else to do, Nemuri-sensei turned to the students.

"Anything you'd like to do before class ends?"

A lazy-looking boy raised his hand half-heartedly.

"No, you can't leave," she immediately shut him down. "Anyone with a real suggestion?"

To Kirby's surprise, Nejire raised a hand. "Sensei, sensei~ We should hear Kirby's hero name!" Nejire shouted.

Kirby blinked.

The class all murmured in approval, as Nemuri-sensei put up a hand to quiet them. "I suppose that's fair. All of you have chosen your names already, after all! Any ideas for yours, Hoshino?"

Kirby sweat dropped. That totally pushed him into a corner.

"No hard feelings if you can't come up with one now! Be considerate about choosing your name, since it'll stick with you for your entire career."

Kirby sighed in relief. Okay, so he didn't have to come up with something now. He prepared himself to just back out, say he didn't know…

But the class wanted something. He didn't want to disappoint.

With a long deep breath, he said the first thing he thought of.

"... Astra Knight."

There was that knowing glint in Nemuri-sensei's eyes again, Kirby noted. He ignored it in favor of watching the class's reaction though, finding, to his relief, that they thought it was cool.

"Kinda sounds like Meta Knight, dunnit?" a girl named Kagari observed.

Kirby nodded, then looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to say. No lies, no lies… but also he didn't know about this. It was a quick spur-of-the-moment decision.

"Meta Knight's a… big inspiration for me," he settled on. He left it at that, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He hoped they accepted that rationale. It was true, after all.

The class kept pestering him with more questions, but Kirby remained staunchly quiet when inquired further. He didn't want to say something wrong and accidentally out himself.

Togata noticed this, and with his usual loud voice, declared, "_If Kirby doesn't wish to speak about it, you should let him be!_"

The class backed off and went into their own conversations for the most part after that, letting Kirby slump into his chair and relax a bit.

Though, Nemuri-sensei walked up to his chair.

"Kirby," she said, "I have nothing wrong with your name; it's great, in fact, but are you sure?" There was a sort of seriousness in her face that Kirby rarely saw. "This is your chance to break out of your past and make it something new. Consider it," she said before walking away, just as the bell rang.

Kirby sat there dumbfoundedly. Perhaps he had chosen his name a bit too quickly? But… Astra Knight felt like something that was given to him, despite Kirby coming up with it himself just now.

It was hard to explain, but he felt like it would be shameful if him not to use it.

He shook his head. It would be fine, he could always change it if he needed to, he supposed.

Then, he remembered what he planned to do, his features brightening in joy. A large grin remained on his face as he packed away his belongings hastily. Then, he ran out the door, nimble as a cricket.

Togata looked surprised. Kirby didn't look back as he leaned out of the doorway, confused, shouting, "Kirby! Where are you going?"

Kirby hurriedly shouted "staff lounge!" behind him in response, not stopping his run, even as an upstanding-looking student tried to say, "no running in the halls!"

When he finally arrived and slammed open the large door to the staff lounge, yelling "Meta!" enthusiastically, he found 3 heads turned to look at him— and none of them were Meta's.

Kirby blinked. And then flushed. Meta wasn't there.

"In the back corner," Eraserhead grunted, pointing behind him with a thumb.

Kirby nodded dumbly and walked over to where Eraserhead had pointed. At a table, the blue-haired Knight was leaning forward, observing videos of today's training.

Kirby immediately cheered up upon seeing him, all traces of former embarrassment fading as he greeted, "Meta, Meta!"

Meta Knight stepped out of his seat and stretched. "Good afternoon, Kirb—"

He didn't get to finish his greeting before Kirby tackled him with a hug. "I didn't know you'd be teaching here! Why aren't you at your hero agency? Why didn't you tell me?"

Kirby looked happy that he was here though, so Meta elected to put his hand on the boy's pink fluffy hair and tousle it fondly. "One thing at a time, Kirby," he slowed the child down. His eyes twinkled with mirth. "If I had told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

Kirby puffed his cheeks, not saying the obvious answer. "You still should've told me," Kirby whined. "I was so nervous this morning! So that's what you were smirking about on the car…"

The knight shrugged. "All's well that ends well, correct? Good job with the staff today, by the way. It seems to be coming to you more now, doesn't it?"

Kirby nodded, stepping away from the hug to look at his hands. "I didn't figure out the throw and midair thrust until today, but that was cool," he noted. "Vaulting has improved too."

Kirby lowered his voice. "Do you think… the copy ability's available now?"

Meta Knight nodded, to Kirby's delight.

Then, a voice from the front of the staff lounge interrupted abruptly. "Hey, Meta Knight!" That boisterous volume could only belong to Yamada-sensei. "Have you given your kid the license exam registration form yet?"

The knight was completely unflappable as he shook his head. "Not yet," he replied, voice much calmer than the loud hero's. From a drawer, he procured a sheet of paper, boxes of information filled out.

He passed it to Kirby, and Kirby scanned all the neatly-printed blue ink. Most of it was already done, leaving only a few that were his own choice— specifically, his hero name.

The blank white box made him a bit conflicted.

"Fill in the last few spots and we can turn it in for processing right now. The test will be in two weeks. Have you decided on a hero name?"

That was the clincher. Had he decided his hero name?

Kirby nodded slowly… and then shook his head just as slowly. But, something told him what he was going to do was the right decision, so he nodded again.

And he wrote in the blank white box, 'Kirby'.

Meta Knight leaned over him as he did, nodding. "Respectable," he said succinctly, as he took the paper Kirby passed to him, placing it on another teacher's desk— Yamada-sensei's, probably.

Kirby nodded with a weak smile. Meta Knight said so, so it was ok. It was fine.

Kirby wanted to be true to himself. When he finally became a hero, he didn't want to wear a mask; he just wanted to be himself, out there, helping people.

What better way to do that was there besides just _being _himself?

Yes. This was fine. Kirby nodded to himself.

* * *

Later that day, when he got home, he dropped off his stuff, changed into his comfy pink sweatshirt, and immediately ran to the backyard.

Meta was already waiting there, two staffs in hand. He tossed one to Kirby, who caught it deftly.

Kirby closed his eyes. He felt it. A new spring of power, welling up from the object in his hands. Even with his eyes closed, its long, slender form was clear, melding perfectly with his hands. It was a light in his hands, a ball of energy.

He called on it. Commanded it to his head, gathered it, and when the light drifted, compacted, and then burst into existence, Kirby knew he had succeeded, feeling the weight of new power on his head.

He tossed the gray metal staff back to Meta Knight, who caught it despite watching intently. Kirby focused. Springing into existence with another burst of light was a red staff, short and pliable.

Kirby held it vertically in front of him, grinning when it lengthened and propelled him into the air before shortening again to his desired length.

He held on, vaulting across the yard, continuing and never touching the ground himself. Then, the midair thrusting move, empowered by the lengthening staff as he shot it forward. Then, a downward slash, bringing him to the Earth like a meteor.

He stood and grinned at the red and gold-tipped staff in his hands. This was amazing.

He would later spar with Meta several times, win and lose several times, and walk inside to see the hat in the mirror, a baggy puff of white and pink stripes hemmed with a gold ring keeping it in place on his head and finally adorned with a beautiful sea-green jewel.

And then he'd fall asleep, tired of using his ability for so long, letting the power seep out of him.

It was a good day.

* * *

This time, the dream was a journey. A long adventure in fragments.

_Friends came to his aid, each wielding their own power. Enemies joined him, turned by his newfound power._

_The mages, the priest, the large broken heart. The crystal broke open, dark energy ominously floating to another planet._

_The mirror on the ground, reflecting the large hulking figure of black, a bone white mask, heart-shaped._

_Kirby's own face, distorted, Dark Matter, Zero, a morphing sphere of every color—_

Kirby awoke.

The moon was high in the air, the sky tinted a murky yellow-black from the light pollution of the city.

Crickets from the nearby forest shouted, the summer heat spurring their liveliness even as Kirby shivered.

Panting, he brought a hand up to his head. His nightmares had never felt so fragmented and confusing— and _haunting_. There would be more coming soon, no doubt.

He sat up and turned, touched his toes to the chilly wooden ground.

He tiptoed, careful not to step on the creaking floorboard between his room and Meta's.

Silently, Kirby crawled into the royal-blue bedding of the other room. It was warm next to the knight; the warmth engulfing him in safety and enveloping him in care would chase away his dreams.

If Meta Knight noticed anything, he didn't react.

Kirby continued sleeping, dreamlessly this time.

* * *

Kirby was exhausted come morning.

He slept through most of his classes that day, to Togata, Amajiki, and Nejire's concern.

When lunch came, Kirby was quick to line up for food, enticed by the promise of energy.

"You looked tired this morning!" Togata observed as Kirby began digging into his food. "Did you sleep alright last night?"

Kirby nodded, keeping his mouth closed as he chewed. And, well, if having food in his mouth meant he couldn't say anything about his dreams, that was totally coincidental.

Totally.

Luckily, Kirby regained some energy after eating; enough that his friends were no longer concerned.

Unfortunately — for someone else, at least— Kirby focused that new energy into trying to get closer to Amajiki.

"Hey, hey, Amajiki! What's your favorite pro hero?"

The boy remained hunched over his food, face shadowed by his hair. He did utter out "All Might…" though.

Kirby grinned brightly. "Yeah! All Might's amazing, isn't he?!"

Kirby would know. He'd worked with the Symbol of Peace before, and actually experiencing the hero _up close_ was one of Kirby's dearest memories.

"He just inspires so much _hope _in people! I hope we can all become heroes like him."

Nejire nodded. "Everyone likes All Might! Though that makes me curious, Kirby! Who's your favorite hero?"

"Meta Knight!" Kirby didn't even have to think before he answered.

"Oh! That the current Number 3 Hero, right?" Togata joined the conversation. "He seems very chivalrous!"

Kirby nodded enthusiastically. "He is! He's such an amazing hero." Even living with the knight had never deterred Kirby's admiration of him. He was fair, just, and truly heroic.

"I think… his sidekick is pretty cool," Amajiki mumbled.

Kirby blinked.

"Yeah, yeah!" Nejire chimed. "Mini-Knight, right? He never gave a name so the reporter that got his first interview named him!"

Haya, next to Nejire, crooned. "He's so small and cute! I kind of want to hug him," she added her two cents.

"He seems strong!" Togata declared. "I wonder if he'll ever start his own agency!"

Then, they all turned to Kirby, who felt sufficiently cornered.

He scratched his cheek. "I— uh,"

Nejire narrowed her eyes. "You're being awfully silent there," she observed. Then gasped. "Oh! Are you a fanboy?!"

Well, that wasn't the direction Kirby was going for. He shrunk in his seat, blushing. "N-no!" He stumbled out.

Unfortunately, his denial meant nothing (or the opposite thing) to Nejire, who patted him on the head. "Aww~ it's nothing to be ashamed of! I'm sure Mini-Knight is glad to have a fan!"

Kirby could not convey in words how embarrassed he was.

He never noticed Amajiki's black eyes narrowing at him from the side.

* * *

"Oh! Right! I had an idea," Kirby said to Togata and Amajiki.

"I haven't actually gotten my license yet because I transferred late. Provisional license exams are in 2 weeks though, we can train together till then!"

Nejire stuck her head into their triangle. "Training for the license exam? Sounds like a good idea! Lemme join, lemme join!"

Togata moved to let her join the conversation. "Ahaha, right! Nejire didn't pass last year either. It'll be a great help for her to join our training!"

Kirby nodded, smiling. "Awesome! Now, where can we go?"

"UA gyms," Amajiki said.

Togata nodded. "The UA gyms are available to students at any time as long as a class isn't in session. We can go on the weekends!"

Nejire clapped. "Sounds great!"

Looked like it was decided. Kirby exchanged determined glances with all 3 of them. They wouldn't fail.

* * *

"Hey, Togata?"

Togata looked at Kirby. "Yes?"

The pink-haired child fidgeted with his fingers. "Does Amajiki dislike me?"

To Kirby's surprise, Togata just laughed. "Don't worry about it! Tamaki wouldn't, he's really nice. You've probably noticed by now, but he's really shy!"

Kirby nodded. But, he usually got through to shy people pretty quickly.

Togata placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "He's not turning around to the wall when he talks to you, so you're doing great! Just give him some time."

* * *

Later that day, Kirby was on his way to the staff lounge again. Meta Knight wasn't teaching today, instead carrying out his hero duties, but he did say that he would drop by to pick him up after he was done. He told Kirby to wait for him with the other teachers.

So, that's what Kirby was going to do.

Despite being their student now, Kirby found familiarity in being with the teachers as they bantered. Kirby was, after all, one of their former colleagues.

So as Nemuri jabbed at Aizawa's ribs and poked fun at his garish yellow sleeping bag, he laughed with Yamada, watching Cementoss try to calm Aizawa, whose hair was floating in barely suppressed rage.

Kirby was glad he could spend time with them like this.

It almost felt like nothing had changed since he was Mini-Knight.

It was still weird to him that just 2 and a half weeks ago he was a vigilante, and now he was a student.

He sighed.

"Anything on your mind?" Nemuri inquires, seeing Kirby deep in his thoughts.

Kirby shrugged. "Not really," he deflected. His thoughts weren't important, just a few vague musings that he was fine keeping to himself.

Nemuri, of course, took this the wrong way. "Ooh! Denial~ having dirty thoughts, boy?"

Kirby blinked. "Dirty thoughts?"

"You know, _those_. You're a teenage boy, finally in an environment with access to girls!"

Kirby narrowed his eyes, the very picture of confused. "What?"

Now, of course he knew about dating and romance. He was by no means an idiot. Meta Knight just never taught him about the other aspect of it.

Nemuri looked dumbfounded for a second at Kirby's reaction, before bursting into raucous laughter, rolling on the ground.

Aizawa stared at her, wholly unimpressed. Then, he looked at the pink-haired child.

"Nothing you need to know about," he said.

Kirby was thoroughly confused when Meta came to pick him up.

* * *

The first training weekend went well, in one word.

The long version started with Kirby learning not to underestimate Nejire.

With her quirk, blasting Kirby back several meters with her waves ended up being a common occurrence.

Togata had decided to train on fine-tuning his quirk instead of sparring with them, a decision that was well made, as he started sputtering several times during the day, having activated his quirk for longer than his lungs could take it.

Kirby was curious when Togata's clothes fell straight through his body, but wasn't all too surprised. In hindsight, as he thought about it while Togata hurriedly put his clothes back on, it made sense that clothes would pass through him.

Nejire and Amajiki looked blankly at him as he absentmindedly thought through it, all the while never stopping jumping and vaulting over the equipment the gym had. Kirby was impressively unflappable.

Later, Amajiki did a combination of sparring with Kirby and working on his quirk. That morning, he'd eaten some spinach and was wholly unimpressed by his own viney manifestation.

Kirby smiled. "They're cool! And plants can be used as a weapon too! Try it," he suggested. Pro Hero Whispy Woods came to his mind. The tree hero used his branches, roots and apples to fight villains.

Amajiki tried growing some of the plants around his arm, finding the stringy vines relatively maneuverable and good for twisting around to catch objects.

With Nejire and Amajiki teamed up against him, Kirby had to jump higher, run faster. It was a relatively equal match-up.

* * *

By the end of the day, despite not having much direction, the group of four was _tired_ but fulfilled. They grinned at each other— or smiled, in Amajiki's case— but made plans to meet up again next weekend.

Amajiki waited with Kirby on the steps to UA. Togata and Nejire had left already, going to the nearby metro station.

Kirby was waiting for Meta Knight to come pick him up, and Amajiki… who knew? Kirby thought he'd leave with Togata. The two of them seemed inseparable.

"... Kirby," Amajiki said.

Kirby looked at him, surprised. Amajiki never initiated their conversations.

"Are you… Mini-Knight?"

* * *

**:D**

**Tell me your thoughts and predictions in the comments! Also lemme know if you enjoyed the lighthearted shorts and segments in between! Sorry this chapter may not have had much going on, but next chapter will be a big one! (License exams are coming soon!)**

**As always, please leave a fav or follow if you enjoyed, and a review! I'll try my best to answer all reviews, and they always make my day! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Heyo! Thanks again to all my commenters! You all are amazing. Shout out to smallroo for always leaving a really thoughtful comment! Reading them always makes my day, thank you so much! Here are replies to the new comments:**

**Reversus12 - **Yup, that's a good way of putting it. Is it really though? And yay! I really love how Meta Knight interacts with Kirby in the main games, his first appearance especially. I like to think he acts as a caretaker since Kirby's so young. They've definitely been through a lot together at least, even though they don't know that here.

**A fan - **Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy this fic. I'm sorry it's a bit rushed! I've always been better known for my art than my writing. :P I'm trying my best to get to plot-related areas, since there's a lot to come, but I'm also probably misjudging the pacing since writing takes much longer than reading.

Also, as a general rule of thumb, **this story will have no romance.** I'm sorry! I really can't write romance, and I don't imagine it very well. And, well, it's anime but that doesn't mean it's fanservice-y. I only like anime mostly for character design, music/art, and plot. It sort of disgusts me when they're perverted.

I'm also trying to stay mostly in what I know as Kirby canon and a few of my own headcanons, meaning that Kirby doesn't know his origins and basically nothing is known about Galacta Knight. Personally, I see all the knights as either male or nonbinary, so that'll probably be in there somewhere.

I want to include the knights? They're really interesting pieces of lore and the connection between Galacta and Morpho would be really interesting to explore, and also their designs are amazing but they'll probably play a really minor role.

**Guest - **dun dun duuuun indeed. XD

**carloshbaroni - **Yup! I'm glad you noticed the way I made the copy-ability system for weapons. I thought it would be a fun link to the games because sometimes they add new ones or remove old ones? Kirby doesn't lose any ability he's learned, but I know staff was a new one for Star Allies. ;) It's not a coincidence that as Kirb's nightmares about Void Termina appear, his staff ability also gets unlocked.

And yep! I do plan on adding more characters, even though they'll play relatively minor roles. Thanks for asking!

**smallroo - **Oh thank goodness, my skin is clear, my crops are fluorishing, _my eyes are cleansed!_ Perfect grammar in a comment! XD

Anyways, you'll see. And Astra Knight as a name is a nod to one of my 's an idea I had for if Kirby grew up and joined the Knights, since they're an actual army in Right Back At Ya and seem to be a trend for Galacta and Morpho too. I don't want to reveal too much, but stuff happens in my ideas for after canon Star Allies timeline. ;D

**DivineWhiskey - **You're welcome for the chapter! But please remember that **I do not like negativity in my comments**, even if it's just slightly implied. I'm glad you think highly of my fic compared to the other, but really, please keep your comments limited to things about my fic.

**ASDFaslkdjh I'm sorry for doing such long replies again. Thanks again for the comments though! I had a fun time replying to them (probably too much fun judging by the length of my replies (._.)). I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

_Last Chapter:_

_"... Kirby," Amajiki said._

_Kirby looked at him, surprised. Amajiki never initiated their conversations._

_"Are you… Mini-Knight?"_

* * *

Oh, shoot. "Um!" Kirby had no words. What was he supposed to say?! That was sudden, so straightforward. He waved his hands around, unsure of what to do for a moment, before letting them drop, resigned. His reaction definitely only incriminated him further.

"Yes," he finally admitted, resigned. "I'm Mini-Knight."

Amajiki hummed. "Okay."

"That's it?" Kirby looked at him. "Are you going to say anything? Tell anybody?"

Amajiki shrugged. "Not if you don't want me to."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"At the very least," Amajiki started, "it's reassuring to know we have someone experienced with us."

Kirby didn't say anything.

"And I am… curious about why a hero is in school, but you probably have your reasons."

Kirby nodded numbly.

"Is it that bad to be found out?"

No. Kirby shook his head. It wasn't bad. It wasn't the end of the world and it wasn't like they'd stop being his friends. Why was he so worried?

He didn't know. When it came down to it, it just felt… frustrating? No, that definitely wasn't the right word.

"I'm at least glad it was you who found out," Kirby finally settled on. "Thanks for not telling anyone."

Amajiki nodded, and a comfortable silence settled between the two of them.

"... How'd you find out?" Kirby finally asked. He was curious.

"Well, first, your hero costume is about the same as it was before. Also your reaction when we started talking about your alter ego. Nejire was right, you were too quiet. Especially for being a big fan of Meta Knight. And… I noticed you go to the staff room pretty often after school, like you know the teachers well. You would, if you were a hero."

Kirby smiled meekly, making a mental note to change his costume a bit at some point. "Guess I don't hide it super well, huh?"

"No, you're fine," Amajiki said. "Those two are airheads anyways, they won't figure it out for a while."

Kirby was surprised how blunt the usually-meek and quiet Amajiki could be. He looked to the sky, which was darkening from a sunset into a nice dusky purple. "Well, thanks… I promise I'll tell why eventually. But… not today."

Amajiki simply nodded, and Kirby felt his trust and respect for his new friend skyrocket.

* * *

2 weeks later, as the September chill started rolling in and the leaves changed color, Kirby, Togata, Amajiki and Nejire climbed onto a white mini-van with the UA logo printed proudly on its side.

The good thing about being the only four UA A-class students that hadn't gotten their licenses yet was that they got a vehicle to themselves when driving to the exam, since separate classes went at different times and locations.

Throughout the ride, the 4-man UA A-class team strategized.

"Alright, so we know that the test format rarely changes over the years, so the ball and target format will likely be up first again," Togata said. "That's where we failed last year. There's a thing called the 'UA crushing', where students of all the other hero schools team up against us first."

Amajiki bit his lip. "We were told that teamwork was essential there, but we accidentally got split from the group," he explained. "We can't let that happen this time."

Nejire nodded, unusually serious. "Agreed. Amajiki, what'd you eat this morning?"

"Octopus and clam," he replied.

They planned the whole way there, Kirby's head fizzing out a few times because he wasn't one to worry about plans most of the time.

When they alighted from the spacious minibus alongside Eraserhead, who was taking them for that day, they were treated to the sneers and glares of every other school there. Kirby, Togata, Amajiki and Nejire exchanged determined glances. They _would_ get through this.

* * *

It was easy for them to get changed into their hero costumes, each person having been given their own small changing stall in the vast stadium, made specially for this event.

Kirby, taking Amajiki's words about the similarity of his and Mini-Knight's costumes into account, had changed up his costume a bit from its usual wide open half-sleeved sweatshirt-tee and submitted a new design to the UA support course. Hopefully this would differentiate him from his vigilante alter ego just a bit.

While he still kept his trademark zipped floppy collar, the sweatshirt was larger and thicker, now more tunic-like, with a belt bunching up some of the puffy fabric at his waist.

This time, attached to his side was an extendable metal staff, gifted to him by Meta for getting the new ability. Kirby also still had minimal armor— just his arm plates, half-covered by the longer close-ended sleeves, and his shin and knee guards, obscured by puffy red sweatpants.

It was a warm look, designed with the coming fall and winter in mind, and the support team at UA certainly did not disappoint. Kirby lamented that he would have to still wear his old one— which did not do much to keep him warm— when he was out as Mini-Knight later.

But that came later. First, to even think about returning to his duty, he'd have to get his provisional license.

Kirby let his right hand settle near the extendable staff on his belt, battle-ready even though he was still in the waiting area.

The hostile glances kind of unsettled him, made him just a bit more anxious.

Kirby walked to Togata and Amajiki, and then they found Nejire. Good, things were going fine so far.

With a few seconds left before they had to enter the arena, Kirby took some deep breaths.

A grin. This would be a cinch. He never doubted himself before, and he wasn't going to start today.

* * *

When the targets and balls were distributed, Kirby put all of his on his torso— mostly close to his chest. Putting it anywhere else would make it more open and vulnerable. And, well, putting one right on his chest might have made it seem open, but at least his arms would be able to protect it.

Togata followed suit, attaching one to his chest, the others on his hips. Amajiki, on the other hand, had sort of an advantage with his large white mantle. He couldn't place it anywhere on loose fabric, so he had the slight protection of his white cloak. They somewhat obscured the targets' locations.

Nejire put one on her chest as well, the others on the undersides of her forearms, where they would be more difficult to access.

_The first 250 people to defeat 3 others will pass_, the announcer said.

When they walked out of their waiting zone, it was into a vast arena filled with different landscapes: rocklands, a city, a riverbed. They were in a relatively flat dirt-land, without much cover, unfortunately.

The buzzer to begin spurred Kirby's battle mind into action.

"Should we stay here? We can at least see anything coming…"

Nejire nodded. "Last time, when we were separated, we were at the rocklands. Let's stay here this time!"

A shudder came from the ground. Kirby swivelled his head around, but the source of it remained unknown.

There was a pit in his stomach, his apprehensiveness. His senses were attuned to everything around him. His stomach abruptly dropped.

Kirby's eyes widened.

"_Jump!_"

It was perfect timing, because from below the ground, a person in a gray-ish costume burst out, ball in hand. It was inches away from where Kirby's foot was.

Kirby smirked. Nejire must have thought it uncharacteristic of the boy, as she looked at him oddly, but Kirby took the opportunity.

With a quick pitch of Kirby's hand— coil back, spring forth, flick of the wrist and _release_— the orange rubber ball in his hand suddenly found its target on his attacker.

Score! One down. To his side, Togata threw a fast one at the ambusher's shoulder and Amajiki tapped the other with a tentacle-wrapped ball as well.

The quartet smiled at each other, determined, Kirby doing a little jig with his feet. A triumph dance, if you will.

That was Amajiki's point, so in total, they needed 11 more defeats.

That was one person out, but it couldn't have been their only ambusher. From the sides of the flatland came groups, hordes of people, a hodgepodge of hero costumes from different schools.

Kirby flexed his fingers, bringing them into a guarded position. His legs settled, one in front of the other, letting him fall into a comfortable fighting pose.

Behind him, Nejire held her palms forward, hesitance clear in the way she hung back. There was a lot of people.

And all of them would be going for them, their targets. Though, really, how nice it was of them to give the quartet their next victims.

Without further ado, the battle began.

The groups of people charged, close combat fighters wielding their rubber balls in hand. Long range fighters started pelting the balls in their direction from perches afar. A few people took to the air for a better vantage point.

Kirby stayed close behind Nejire, who blasted waves forward from her palms. Easily, they changed the trajectories of the balls, propelling them back at the attackers. A lucky _ping_ or two rang out as the deflected balls assaulted their attackers. Meanwhile, Kirby tossed one of his own up into the air, scanning the cavalry for easy pickings. There, in the back, one longer-range who'd placed one of theirs on the front of their right shoulder.

Kirby pitched again, hitting the spot, just as a close-range attacker resisted Nejire's waves and dove in low to strike.

Kirby jumped, pushing his light body high into the air. As he drifted down, Nejire took the extra space to kick wide and round, keeping people back slightly.

Still in the air, Kirby pelted 2 balls at an oncoming attacker.

Right before landing, he shot Togata and Amajiki a nod, which both quickly returned.

His feet touched down, kicking up a cloud of dust. His hand reached for the metal staff on his belt, twirling it on top of his hand as he extended it to his own height. One end of it on the ground, Kirby kicked his feet up, vaulting over the attackers.

As Kirby soared atop their heads, they didn't turn around, electing to focus on the prey in front of them. Kirby watched as Togata phased his arm through one attacker's head, blinding them temporarily, and then hitting the sensor on their abdomen with a ball. There was one coming to his side, blocked easily by Amajiki's clamshelled hand. Amajiki's other arm morphed into tentacles, unleashing quick and rapid strikes to others' sensors using the balls they held on their ends.

Kirby grinned. So far, so good. Amajiki had gotten his second and Togata had gotten his first.

The far range attackers he'd closed the distance to had seen him vaulting over, focusing most of their throws and shots at the pink-haired boy, who jumped as several shots hit his former position on the ground.

Upon landing, he immediately used his staff to vault over to one of them, knocking them in the chest using a quick thrust before pinging the targets with his own hand-held rubber ball. That was one down for him, two more to go.

With a quick hop, he made it over to a few of the others, swinging widey in midair to incapacitate them as well.

Taking advantage of the points, he struck, aiming balls at their undefended targets. That meant 2 more down… Kirby looked back towards where Togata, Amajiki, and Nejire were holding off attackers.

1 down, 2 more down meant 3 down, the total requirement. Did that mean he couldn't help them, now that he was already done?

As if finally kicking in after Kirby had totaled his wins, the sensor on his chest pinged. '_Hoshino Kirby,' _it said in a robotic voice. '_Congratulations for passing the first stage of the exam. You can make your way over to the waiting area in Wing 2…'_

Kirby winced. He really had passed. They promised they would stay and pass together though.

'_Or you can continue. We warn you, however, that if your remaining targets are hit before the test ends, you will be disqualified.'_

Kirby's ears perked at that. Alright! It wasn't over yet. So, he continued.

Jump and vault over the people, back over to where Amajiki was shielding Nejire with his targetless back.

Kirby landed back in the center of the ring of attackers, swinging his staff, slashing at a pair that were a few feet away from his friends.

"Tamaki's got his 3!" Togata updated him, pushing the white-hooded teenager towards Kirby. "I've got my second and Hado has her first! We're good over here, so you can go on!"

Kirby bit his lips. One of Togata's targets had already been hit. Nejire was still safe because she'd been using her waves to repel them with ease.

He shook his head. "No! I'm staying!" He declared. Turning to Amajiki, who nodded, they both rejoined the battle.

There. Behind Togata, an arm chopping through the air, about to hit the blond's head. It phased through as Togata activated his quirk, and Kirby took the opportunity of the attacker's confusion to hit him in the side and push him away.

A few clatters resounded, barely audible under the shouts of combat.

Kirby's head swiveled over. Togata was quickly gathering his targets and putting them back on; _no time for this_, Kirby turned back to the assailant.

He was on the ground, coughing after Kirby's heavy hit. Kirby picked a nearby ball off the ground and touched it to the target on the guy's arm, leaving only the one on the back of his hand.

Togata took the opportunity and from his position, threw a ball towards it. With that, he had his three! Kirby grinned.

The ping and robotic voice alerting them that Togata had passed rang out, and soon after, rang from behind. Kirby beamed at Nejire, who was triumphantly holding an orange rubber ball above her head.

With a quick blast of Nejire's waves clearing a path in the crowd they ran to the metal siding of the arena, the hole in the siding the safe haven of the waiting room—

And when they made it into the well-lit but dimmer room filled with refreshments and the few people that had already passed, they heaved a collective sigh of relief.

"We… really made it, huh?" Nejire asked, voice filled with wonder. "We made it!"

Strong arms wrapped around them as Togata pulled the quartet in a crushing hug. "We really did it! We passed the prelims!"

Kirby laughed. "Of course we did!"

Amajiki leaned forward and sighed again. "The same problem happened again… Togata's target kept falling through him when he dematerialized…"

Nejire patted him on the head, to his apparent chagrin. "Don't worry about it so much! We passed, didn't we? It's even more amazing because we had a smaller group this time! All of them targeted the four of us and we still managed to get past it!"

Kirby laughed. "I'm really really glad!"

The waiting period for the second test was spent with a lot of laughter and excitement.

* * *

"Hey, Kirby, hey, what do you think the second stage is?" Nejire couldn't sit still, not unlike a hyperactive child on sugar.

Even Kirby was amazed at how jumpy she was right now, which was a feat considering Kirby looked and acted like an _actual _child.

"I suppose rescue, right? You guys were here last year, you know more than me," he replied.

Nejire clung to him from behind as he continued to grab snacks from the refreshments table, his plate steadily growing.

Kirby recalled something. "More than that, shouldn't you recharge? Your quirk runs on stamina—"

"We _were_ here last year~!" Nejire said, ignoring Kirby's suggestion. "But it feels different actually having passed!"

Amajiki, nearby, snacked on some of his own snacks that he brought: some dried octopus strips, a few dried seafood snacks. "Don't be so excited yet, Hado-san," he mumbled. "Just because we passed the first round doesn't mean the second will go as well."

Nejire pouted. "Killjoy," she whined, even though she knew it was true.

"No worries!" Togata cheerfully declared. "At least here we know that we'll get our licenses within the year. If you pass the first phase but don't pass the next, there're remedial classes to get it sooner!"

Kirby smiled. "That's relieving," he said. His eyes took on a fiery quality. "We'll definitely pass it the first time around though!" he stated, warm optimism spreading to his teammates.

They did a four way fist bump as the timer rang, alerting them that break time was over.

* * *

The second part of the test was a cinch.

With the momentum they'd gained from the first stage, the quartet felt like nothing could stop them— and nothing did.

The announcer had split the remaining 250 contestants into groups of 25 and had them take the test in sectioned-off areas. 5 groups went at a time, so there were 2 different times for the second stage.

As Kirby saw the name picker flicking through names and finally settling on its groups, he was glad his name was up there for the first round. Getting things done quicker was better.

Within the span of an hour, each group was supposed to rescue as many robots as they could from the areas they were in, while under surveillance from the Public Safety Commission.

Kirby had been lucky enough to be placed with Togata, with whom he worked together to get people down the mountain areas, a landslide simulation. They were judged on their choice of location, and with Kirby's easy mobility over the rocks and Togata's phasing through obstacles, they managed to evacuate the mountain of its unmoving robots relatively quickly.

Kirby had experience, knowing exactly how to raise the stones so as not to damage delicate parts, and hoped he was doing things correctly.

Ah, who was he kidding. Meta Knight would never have let him out on the field if he didn't have the necessary knowledge and skills. A vigilante he might have been, but he was still thoroughly trained.

Togata was a bit rough on the corners of certain procedures, which was understandable, since he'd spent most of his training time fine-tuning his quirk and figuring out how to fight with it. In the end, it was actually a useful search tool, since he could easily get into books and crannies even the small Kirby could not.

They high fived each other as they got back to the waiting area, where Nejire and Amajiki were up next.

"It's alright!" Kirby tried to reassure them. "It's not too difficult! Just stay calm and remember your training from UA!"

It must've worked, even though Kirby bit his lip watching the large screens in the waiting zones, knowing Nejire had accidentally blasted a rock a wrong way or Amajiki shied away from other nearby test-takers.

* * *

In a few hours, they stood outside the arena, basking in the golden-orange sunset as they held up their new, shiny licenses. All of their training, poured into a small plastic card, their picture blown up on the side and their names and information embossed neatly in black.

In their circle of four, none of them could stop smiling as they held out their licenses, the cards shining proudly in the sunlight.

Kirby couldn't help but laugh as Nejire shed actual tears of joy and Togata picked her up and spun her in the air. He turned to Amajiki, who flatly said, "no." And then Togata turned to Kirby, pouting.

Kirby was glad for them, really. Almost an entire year of near-isolation from the class because they hadn't passed the first time around was rectified today. Kirby knew it must've meant so much more to them, so as they celebrated, cheered, and did what they did, he stood back a bit and watched.

Togata didn't care though as he pulled the quartet into another bone-crushing group hug, holding up his phone and telling them to smile at the camera.

The group selfie featured Nejire being startled as she was pulled in, Amajiki with a small smile on his face, Togata grinning widely, and Kirby laughing with his eyes closed in an expression of true joy.

All of them held out their licenses again, to compare against each other's.

Togata's eyebrows raised though, as he looked at Kirby's card and the bold black-inked hero name on the bottom: 'Kirby.'

"When did you change your hero name?" he asked.

Nejire gasped, just noticing it herself. "You really did! Why? It was pretty cool as Astra Knight! Why?"

Amajiki had one eyebrow raised. "I thought it was fitting," he added his two cents, though he then shrugged. "Though arguably this is more fitting."

Nejire's smile turned wide. "Hey! Now both of us have just our first names as our hero names! How about you add a '-chan' to the end of yours do we're matching? You're cute enough to pull it off!"

Kirby sweat dropped and laughed nervously. "I'm good thanks, Nejire," he returned.

Togata laughed. "Whatever hero name you choose, you'll definitely be successful! You helped us so much with the exam!"

Nejire and Amajiki nodded resolutely in agreement, and Kirby could only rub the back of his neck sheepishly.

"We all will," he declared. "Be successful, I mean. We'll only get stronger from here!"

Togata gave Kirby an enthusiastic thumbs-up. "Of course!"

* * *

Things didn't change much for the next two weeks. A license wasn't exciting when most people got theirs an entire year ago, but Kirby didn't care. It was still fun chatting with and being with his friends.

Remotely interesting were perhaps the daily Hero classes, led mostly by Aizawa-sensei, who didn't have a class since he'd expelled all of 1-A.

He really was a cutthroat teacher, Kirby found. He pushed them to their limits with training their quirks and combat skills, sparring individually with most of them and disabling their quirks every now and then to make sure they didn't depend on it.

Kirby's turn was apparently very anticipated, since the class cheered when he was called up, despite having their own things to do.

The spar dragged on for a while, both sides being familiar with the fighting styles of the other. Remember, Kirby did work with the tired underground hero before. Kirby was glad his "strength and lightness" wasn't something he activated—it was just there, so Aizawa couldn't erase it as they sparred.

Though that did give him an unfair advantage, Aizawa eventually managed to trip him, literally. Kirby stumbled and hopped a bit before ultimately falling over.

It was pretty refreshing to spar with someone other than Meta and maybe Ectoplasm, Kirby thought.

* * *

The 3-week work-study period began.

Kirby sat up from his bed and stretched his arms and back up, up, behind, and then slumped forward as he went lax and let them fall back down. He grinned.

Meta Knight's schedule was so familiar to him, he already knew he had woken up at the perfect time to catch Meta cooking breakfast for them— this time with his cape already transformed, regal and long.

He still hadn't put on his mask, so Kirby had at least half an hour before they needed to leave for patrol.

He was filled to the brim with excitement, vibrating with joy. Who knew taking 4-5 weeks off from hero-ing to go to school would feel so long?

Even as he scarfed down the eggs and bacon, his fingers tapped restlessly on the wooden table, drumming up a mindless rhythm as he listened to the news in the background.

Then, finally, finally breakfast was done, and he grabbed his chest plate, armor, and mask, ready to don them and head out.

As Kirby excitedly padded down the hallway with his garments gathered in his arms, Meta Knight suddenly pulled the back of his floppy collar, abruptly stopping the boy in his tracks.

Kirby hopped and turned around swiftly, facing his mentor while still jumping up and down and grinning from excitement. Who could blame him?

Meta Knight rested a calm, steady hand on his head, and Kirby felt his overflowing energy rein itself in slightly.

"Kirby, are you going as Mini-Knight? Or Kirby?"

That was… a good question. Kirby stopped rolling on his feet as he contemplated.

Kirby looked down at the shiny silver mask in his hand.

"I don't know," he replied, first thought coming to his head. "I…"

Meta Knight seemed to already know what his dilemma was as he slipped on his own mask. "It's a question of if you want to expose yourself," Meta said sagely. "The mask of Mini-Knight has never failed you until a few weeks ago, but you now have the qualification. You can be Mini-Knight again if you wish."

Kirby tilted his head. Was this the right option? Being Mini-Knight again? Or was this a way to start anew, pave a new name for himself?

As if testing it, he smoothly slipped on his mask in a practiced motion, feeling the cold metal cling to his face. It was a familiar notion, yet it felt so old after such a short time.

He took it off again, having not clasped it behind his head yet.

And then he looked up at his masked mentor. "What… do you think I should do?"

Meta Knight seemed to ponder this as his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly beneath his mask. Kirby waited for his answer, apprehensively.

One second. Two seconds.

"...I think it'd be practical, at least," Meta Knight held up a finger as he spoke.

Kirby slumped forward. That was anticlimactic.

"We don't wear this just for show, you know," Meta Knight continued as Kirby regained his composure. "These masks, first and foremost, are our protection."

Kirby nodded, already enraptured by Meta's impromptu imparting of wisdom.

"Physically, it protects our face from injury. Mentally, it protects our privacy and others' respect for us," he said. "Recall how it's prevented people from saying anything about your age."

Kirby nodded, slipping the mask on. This was the right decision… probably.

"That said," Meta continued, "there comes a time when a mask is not needed and just gets in the way. And you," he poked Kirby's masked forehead, which returned a quiet _chink,_ "have to discover that time yourself."

Kirby smiled. "...I think I get it," he said as he raised a hand to where Meta had poked him. "I'll wear my mask for today, but at some point, I'll take it off," he said.

"Good." Meta Knight smiled too, though it was unseen beneath the mask. Kirby could still tell from the way the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

They went out, jumping and treading a familiar path across rooftops, wind ruffling through blue and pink hair.

Kirby never questioned why Meta never went anywhere without a mask… but he instinctively had an idea anyways. The blue knight had always been enigmatic anyways.

* * *

**:D How was it? How was it?**

**Kirby's gotten his license with the others! And he's starting work-study experiences! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Thanks for reading as usual, and if you enjoyed, please leave a fav, follow, or comment! Comments make my day :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi! I'm back! Thanks for the kind comments from last chapter! I think I might stop replying to comments if you guys are ok with it, because I feel like I made a few unfair assumptions about people and I'm just generally socially awkward. Thank you so much for reading and commenting though! They always make my day!**

**Without further ado, here's the chapter!**

* * *

To say Kirby was excited to be back out would be a grave understatement. Kirby couldn't stop grinning the entire time he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and found his mouth pretty sore by the end of the day.

As he lugged himself back to the apartment, he knew he had a very self-satisfied smile. He wouldn't say the day was particularly eventful, but catching three robbers and helping the arrest of a minor drug dealer certainly wasn't nothing.

"Welcome home, Kirby," Meta Knight called from the kitchen. "Nice work today."

Kirby grinned. "Thanks!"

Meta Knight had gone on his own patrol path after a short while. Kirby usually preferred to stay with Meta Knight, but he had so much pent up energy that Meta Knight practically pushed him off of patrol path.

Just because he was a sidekick after all, did not mean he always had to stay with Meta Knight. It just meant he was affiliated with Meta Knight's hero agency. Meta Knight, being such a doting mother hen (not that he'd ever admit to it), was probably following Kirby's escapades on the news anyways.

In the end, Kirby ended up jumping all over the place.

Kirby lamented that he still couldn't use his abilities in public. Otherwise, it would've been really nice to have wings on hand. Or any other ability that allowed him easy transport, really. Ice was really fun, for one.

* * *

Meta Knight watched the news as he usually did, sitting beside Kirby at the kitchen table, a plate of dinner before him. Kirby gulfed his down in record time— no wonder, considering how hyped up he'd been the whole day. He was probably dead tired after everything he did.

He bid Kirby a quick "good night" as the child hopped off the stool and went over to the bedrooms.

He still had to clean up a bit before he went to sleep though, so Meta Knight kept watching the news. It was good to stay informed, after all.

Who would appear other than Kirby? Mini-Knight wasn't the most popular hero by a longshot, but being the sidekick to the number 3— and for a long time, on top of that, to the point that most speculated on him being a partner rather than a sidekick— definitely garnered him a good amount of attention.

Seeing Mini-Knight on the news was not an uncommon occurrence, but with Kirby's debut coming up soon, Meta Knight supposed it probably wasn't a good idea to give the media too much to focus on.

He knew Kirby cared about revealing his identity feeling some sort of shame for having broken the law and allowed people to stop him from helping others, but Kirby didn't think too far. Kirby didn't think about how the media backlash would be, how if it was revealed that he was a vigilante, he'd have more issues to think about than just the law.

Meta Knight also knew that most criticism rolled off Kirby like water off a duck's back. But that didn't mean it couldn't affect him, especially when piled on, like a smothering blanket that pushed him down. He knew all too well.

_What kind of knight—_

_— Short with those stubby little arms._

_How'd he get his hands on—_

_What a trai—_

Meta shook his head.

Perhaps it was his bedtime. Before stepping into the covers though, he set aside a folded red article of clothing on his desk.

* * *

Meta Knight dreamt.

Had, for several years.

Since setting eyes on the child, the images slowly unlocked themselves in the form of dreams.

There were horrifying things. Terrors beyond his control, enemies even he, with his legendary Galaxia, could not face.

But mostly, there was Kirby.

Kirby, the little pink toddling puffball who crashed in on a warp star, bringing hope into his life again.

Kirby, who time and time again stood against enemies alongside him or without him.

Kirby, who he fought against and raised and trained into a star warrior.

Kirby, who was called to the main sanctuary by the leaders of the Star Warriors, who was presented with a title, a mask, and recognition of all his heroic deeds before then.

Meta Knight remembered the overwhelming pride he felt as Kirby accepted the mask, golden-horned to show his strength, silver-spiked to show his tutelage, with small pink blushes on the cheek— his own touch.

And then Kirby was Astra Knight, no longer a baby, infant, or child, but a dignified knight like himself.

But he never grew wings, in the end.

Meta Knight supposed it was for the best; wings would've hampered Kirby's already enormous power. If he needed wings, he could use any ability.

But still, he gave Kirby an old red cloak. Worn, short, but still a cloak that was made for the purpose of concealing wings, and even though Kirby didn't have wings and the cloak would never be a substitute for it, Meta remembered the way Kirby treasured it and cared for it like they _were_ his wings.

The dreams came again that night and Meta Knight was glad they had. All of his dreams were usually too dreary anyways.

* * *

Kirby stared at his mentor, who held up the red and gold-trimmed half-length cloak, presenting it to Kirby.

"You're giving it to me?" Kirby almost couldn't believe it.

Meta Knight nodded softly, a wistful look in his soft yellow eyes, and Kirby accepted it gently with both hands, treating it like a precious, almost sacred object.

Kirby couldn't quite place the significance behind it, but he felt it. He knew that the cloak meant so much more than just a gift for returning to service. It niggled at the back of his mind, trying to tell him something, but just couldn't get it out.

His mind told him _wings—_and then nothing.

For now, Kirby settled on a memory from his childhood.

As he wrapped the warm red cloak around his shoulders, adjusting the golden clasps, and then looking into the mirror, he could remember a time when the mask framed by the high collar was not his, not his light silver mask with the tiniest of horns and metallic pink blush marks, but rather a dark grey iron, topped with four horns.*

_"That's Meta Knight_," Dedede beside him had introduced when Kirby was just five years old. _"He'll be joining us for a bit_."

And Kirby knew the moment he'd set eyes on the tamed mop of black hair, the soft yellow eyes glowing behind the mask, that he knew the knightly man from somewhere. More years were spent together afterwards — many, many more— but Kirby never quite placed where he knew the man from.

The red cloak fit perfectly on his small shoulders, cocooning him in warmth and old memories. He drew it around himself, donning it proudly.

* * *

_"Mini-Knight has returned today once again with a new cloak! Is the number 3 hero's biggest sidekick entering a new era of heroism?"_

* * *

Kirby sat up in his bed.

The sun was bright, the birds were chirping, the chilly autumn air nipped at his nose, and he decided.

Today, he'd be Kirby.

* * *

Again, the UA Support's outfit fit him like a glove, if a bit baggy by design. He stretched near the front door, movements springy and joyful, as Meta Knight put on his armor.

Kirby lamented that he couldn't bring his new cloak with him— as much as it was a sentimental item, Meta Knight had made it clear that he should differentiate himself from Mini-Knight to avoid public backlash. But that was okay!

On the same vein of reasoning, Kirby had chosen a new weapon for today.

When Meta Knight told him he had to differentiate himself, many things did not need to be said. Including that Kirby needed to change his weapon.

His sword was his go to, his comfort, like an old plushie or blankie that just being near it would calm him.

But the sword was definitely not the only thing Kirby knew how to use, and both he and Meta Knight knew it when they brought up the issue.

Kirby knew immediately what he wanted to switch to.

It didn't quite fill him with the same steady confidence and comfort a sword did, but it was, in a sense, another comfort.

Kirby picked up the 20-pound wooden hammer, relishing the way it fit perfectly in his hands, like a sturdy weight grounding him. It wasn't perfect—nothing ever felt like a perfect weapon for Kirby unless it was one created by a copy ability, made by his mind for his exact purposes— but it came close.

With a new hammer in tow, taken from the weapons closet in the back of the house, Kirby was ready to set out.

* * *

A man with leathery red wings was high in the air. Far beyond any of those dumb heroes' reaches.

He was home free, as soon as he was in the skies. The man laughed. The sky was his territory, where those ground-bound monkeys could never invade.

He knew there were no heroes that could take that from him right now, not in Musutafu. And either way, any that did could be easily dodged. No one should underestimate his midair maneuverability. Those wings gave him far more control than was probably fair.

Not that he was complaining. He sneered.

…

He spoke too soon.

What the actual heck was a pink-haired _child_ doing several stories in the sky?

Carrying what was no doubt a ridiculously heavy hammer?

The child's arm coiled back, hammer behind him.

And then it swung, and all he knew was pain.

* * *

As Meta Knight caught the villain on the ground, making sure he didn't suffer any lethal wounds, Kirby landed beside him.

"You didn't break his spine, did you?" he side-eyed Kirby who was far too strong for his own good. "Remember, we aren't supposed to kill villains unless they go against us with lethal force."

Kirby shrugged. "I held back. I was trying to just knock him out and down."

Meta nodded. "Good."

* * *

The media were on it as soon as they saw it.

A young new hero was always a good scoop, even more so if it was to _Meta Knight_. The Number 3 Hero was notoriously hard to get ahold of, with a limited sidekick force of nine. And now that was ten, with this new addition, seemingly another youth with puffy pink hair.

The lights flashed as every camera tried to get a shot, microphones shoved in the new hero's face.

"A statement, please!"

"Are you Meta Knight's new sidekick?"

"How did you become Meta Knight's sidekick?"

"What's your quirk?"

The child just smiled brightly, innocently, as if he hadn't just knocked a villain out of the sky like a star fallen from the graces, felled by the heavy hand of judgement.

"Hi! I'm Kirby!"

* * *

The television glowed, a picture of a pink-haired youth wielding a hammer on-screen, seen waving to the crowd.

The anchor's mouth formed words, the video moving and alive, showing the hero's first greeting. But no sound came out of the television, muted by a white-mittened hand.

Befuddled wide purple eyes stared at the screen, jaw dropping. Bulging yellow eyes looked down, shocked.

It was the key.

Dreams came rushing back to the forefront of their minds as they saw the child. Their pasts, their homes, their mistakes, their roles. A blue and white striped beach ball rolled back and forth between feet, a white and blue ship crashing from the skies and lifting off once again.

Dreams, no longer dreams. They were real. They were _memories._

"Did you… see that?"

"M-hmm."

"He's alive."

"We're alive…"

"WHAT?!" Marx and Magolor screamed at each other in unison.

* * *

_Thus began the Warrior's new Star Allies._

* * *

Kirby didn't usually spend much time on his phone, but Meta Knight told him to keep it on hand that night, for whatever reason. But either way, it was a good way of unwinding after the day's events.

Kirby didn't care too much about the media, but suddenly being bombarded with questions was more overwhelming and exhausting than he remembered, even if he _had_ experienced it as Mini-Knight. Perhaps he should have stayed on the rooftops today.

The last thing he wanted to see was his announcement of himself to the world. It was a bit embarrassing in hindsight, but he couldn't take it back, and now it was being played across the country's news channels. So no, he wouldn't be watching the news tonight.

He rather enjoyed scrolling through art or playing games instead. He never understood the nuances of it, but Ado always did.

There was that weird blank again. Something that felt right on the tip of his mind's tongue but was just… not there.

His phone pinged, and he opened up the text app.

_Unknown number_

_Unknown: Hey, it's-a-me, mirio!_

Kirby giggled and saved the contact.

_Kirby: Hiya! ((o(•^o^•)o))_

_Kirby: How'd you get my number anyways? _

_Mirio: Called the meta knight agency _

_ Mirio: No one was there so it redirected to him directly I guess? _

_ Kirby: （・◇・）you talked to meta knight? _

Kirby was, of course, playing up his surprise. Meta Knight was ridiculously easy to reach— he was even teaching them and they didn't even know. Kirby grinned at the thought.

_ Mirio: YEAH! can you believe it? _

_ Mirio: Wait but youre literally working for him of course you can believe it _

_ Mirio: Btw when were you going to tell us that you got an internship with the NUMBER 3 HERO? _

Kirby nibbled on his lips playfully, a grin threatening to spread across his face. Whoops, looks like he forgot to tell them.

_ Kirby: ＼(•￣∇￣•)／ heheh slipped my mind i guess _

_ Mirio: : you totally did that on purpose _

_ Kirby: Who knows? And yea, he's a family friend. _

Of sorts. Maybe if one took out the latter word.

_ Mirio: When were you going to tell us that the number 3 hero is your family friend? Kirby? _

_ Kirby: \\(•￣3￣•;)/ _

_ Mirio: Oh right! the others wanna talk too, I'll add you to the gc _

Kirby grinned. This was the first time he'd chatted with someone on his phone for so long!

_ It's-a-me-mirio _ _ added _ _ Kirby _ _ to _ _ the 3 musketeers _

_ Kirby: Hiya! ((o(•^∇^•)o)) _

_ Hadouken: KIRBY OMG I WATCHED THE WHOLE NEWS REEL YOU WERE SO COOL I DIDNT KNOW YOU COULD USE A HAMMER HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A HAMMER _

_ Hadouken: OH AND IT LOOKS SO HEAVY HOLY COW HOW MUCH DOES IT WEIGH? AND YOUR OUTFIT LOOKS SO GOOD IN ACTION! SO PUFFFYYYY! _

_ Tamaki: Before you ask, we did Rock Paper Scissors for naming rights to the chat and Nejire won _

_ Tamaki: though now that you're here, we'll probably have to change it again _

_ Kirby: (^o^) thanks for inviting me! _

_ Kirby: And nejire it weighs like 20 pounds _

_ Kirby: I've known how to use it since I was 7? Did I never mention that weapons are my thing _

_ Hadouken: UM NO YOU DIDNT _

_ Hadouken: BUT HOW ARE YOU SO STRONG? YOU'RE SO SMOL _

_ Tamaki: It sort of makes sense; you seemed really good with that staff. I thought you'd bring that as your weapon instead _

_ Kirby: ＼(＾▽＾)／ _

_ Kirby: enough about me how're your internships going _

_ Hadouken: NO WERE NOT DONE WIAT HAVE YOU MET MINIKNIGHT? _

_Kirby: _ _(・・;)ゞ uh yea_

_ Hadouken: Well spill! How'd that go _

Kirby realized that she still remembered his embarrassed reaction over the lunch table at their mention of Mini-Knight. Agh, it was a misunderstanding? Okay then… a topic switch was in order.

_ Kirby: Fine, nothing happened (^-^) _

_ Kirby: He's really cool! How's ryukyu? _

_ Hadouken: (¬_¬ ) alr then _

_ Hadouken: but yea! Ryukyu is amazing! She's taught me so much already! _

_ Hadouken: look forward to having your butts kicked when we get back to training! _

_ Hadouken: were still doing that right _

_ Hadouken: because it's rly rly fun and good for all of us _

_ Hadouken: we should def keep doing that _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: sounds good to me! You two? _

_ Tamaki: I don't see why not _

_ Tamaki: Nejire's right, it's helpful to all of us _

_ Kirby: then of course! _

_ Kirby: Ryukyu sounds awesome! How's it going with Sir Nighteye, Togata? _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: you can feel free to call me Mirio, Kirby _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: we've been friends for a while now after all _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: but anyways _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Sir Nighteye is amazing! _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: He's mostly an intel-based hero because his quirk allows him to see the future _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: But he's also amazing! He's very strong, his quirk helps him predict his opponent's moves _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: He asked me to spar once or twice and he barely moved the entire time! I was dead tired _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: I really respect him _

_ Tamaki: Wow _

_ Tamaki: Imagine liking your mentor _

_ Kirby: Σ(°ロ°) Is Fat Gum really that bad? _

_ Tamaki: No _

_ Tamaki: Yes _

_ Tamaki: … he pushed me in front of a crowd today _

Kirby snorted.

_ Hadouken: ._. _

_ Hadouken: XDDDDDD OMG SRSLY? _

_ Hadouken: Good for you! chicken-heart needs to learn to be brave after all _

_ Kirby: ヽ(∀ )ノ she's got a point _

_ Tamaki: -_- _

_ Tamaki: traitors, the lot of you _

_ Tamaki: Mirio c'mon back me up _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: … _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Sorry man _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Sorta with them on this :) _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Anyways Kirby wanna change your nickname? _

_ Hadouken: OOH OOH LEMME PICK IT LEMME PICK IT _

_ Hadouken _ _ changed _ _ Kirby _ _ 's name to _ _ Pinky _

_ Hadouken: eh? Eh? _

Kirby frowned. That didn't sound quite right.

_ Pinky _ _ changed _ _ Pinky _ _ 's name to _ _ Borb _

_ Borb _ _ changed _ _ Borb _ _ 's name to _ _ Pink Puffball _

_ Pink Puffball _ _ changed _ _ Pink Puffball _ _ 's name to _ _ Kirb _

Ah, yes. That was better.

_ Hadouken: Wiat i take it back pink puffball is even better nooo why'd you change it _

_ Hadouken: lol kirby you're changing it a lot you ok there? _

_ Tamaki: Is that your final name _

_ Kirb: (^v^) yep! _

_ Tamaki: aight then welcome Kirb _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Welcome! _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: It's getting late though, all of us should probably go sleep _

_ Hadouken: :( _

_ It's-a-me-mirio: Nejire _

_ Hadouken: fine fine _

_ Hadouken: good night mother _

Kirby giggled.

_ Kirb: (o˘◡˘o) good night! _

* * *

Kirby yawned as he sat up in his bed, rubbing some of the grogginess from his face.

Hung in the open closet next to him were his Mini-Knight outfit and his Kirby outfit. Today was another day, another choice.

Kirby took a deep breath. Standing and stretching, he retrieved the baggy pink sweatshirt and pants of his Kirby outfit, leaving Mini-Knight's cape and mask untouched.

The feeling of running around as Kirby was intoxicating, Kirby found. Now that he began, now that he _had_ this freedom, he never wanted to stop.

He didn't want to stop being Mini-Knight though. Mini-Knight was such an essential part of him. It was the part of him that was Meta's trainee, Meta's most trusted sidekick, Meta's son/brother.

No, Kirby didn't want to give up being _Astra Knight_. Wait, that wasn't right. Mini-Knight?

But also, as he thought about it, being Kirby naturally felt more… habitual for him. Felt more like normal, even though his normal for the past few years had been Mini-Knight.

These contemplations ended when Kirby bounded out the door behind Meta Knight, ready to face a new day.

* * *

Today began as a rather uneventful day in comparison, Kirby had to say. There was a small robbery somewhere on their path, but because of the concentration of heroes in Musutafu, there were overlapping patrols— meaning it was already taken care of by the time Kirby and Meta arrived on site.

Kirby watched as the robber was dragged into a police car though; clean-up procedures usually went to the people who came after the heroes that dealt with the villain. As much as Meta hated clean-up because it meant dealing with media, it was good practice, for both him _and_ Kirby.

Reporters were thankfully blocked by police cars and yellow tape, allowing Kirby to lazily lean on his hammer.

Meta Knight turned around and walked out of the bank. From first statements, the robber hadn't used her quirk yet, which was strange, to say the least. It was awfully foreboding.

Kirby was the first to notice.

Parts of the robber's hair would dissociate from the main body, like bits of dust. But from the smirk on the woman's face, her quirk was far from simply dusty hair.

Kirby's instincts screamed at him to knock out the woman before anything happened. But she was detained already; no, he probably shouldn't. It wasn't his place to step in right now.

So he leaned on the shaft of his hammer, watching, glaring. And then the robber sent a chilling smirk somewhere, Kirby didn't know where, and suddenly _dispersed_.

There was a moment of panic as the police shouted, panicked. The alert reached the gathering nearby crowd.

Havoc broke loose and all Kirby could do was stand straighter, be more aware, search with his eyes for the robber's whereabouts.

Their was shuffling behind him, like steps, the telltale billowing of a cape, and some tension in Kirby's body faded from the relief of knowing his blind spot was protected by the one he trusted most.

"Whereabouts?" Meta Knight requested succinctly.

"Dunno," Kirby reported. "But I think I saw her turn into dust. Probably her quirk."

Kirby and Meta Knight held position even as officers scurried around them, nearby civilians scrambling.

Close to the yellow tap boundary, escaping initial notice, a pile of dust formed.

Then a leg, another leg, the torso, and the head, all almost popping into existence once more, before hurriedly dashing past the people, nimbly weaving between the crowd.

Kirby gasped. "There!" he shouted as he jumped into the air.

Meta Knight didn't need a second warning; he shot into the crowd, zooming past and pushing people out of the way gently, on the woman's tail.

Kirby, in one swift jump, propelled himself past the thickest part of the crowd, and took the rest of the way on light feet, hot on the robber's tail.

No, this wouldn't work, Meta thought simultaneously as he gave chase. Both he and Kirby were going in the same direction, and at this rate, the robber would outrun both of them. They needed to corner her somehow, but Kirby didn't take orders well in the middle of battle.

As if answering his thoughts, a person descended from the sky like a shot put, landing before the robber.

She halted, flipping backwards once to put some distance. A look tossed over her shoulder told her the number 3 hero and his little sidekick were closing in too. The situation did not look bright.

She stood no chance against number 3; but what about the person in front of her?

With a gentle playfulness in their round brown eyes, puffy red-orange hair framing a round cream visage, an orange outfit with red and yellow zigzag motifs, a cream-white scarf obscuring half the face, and finally a blue bandana tying the ensemble together, the robber blanched.

Bandana Dee, sidekick of high-ranking villain Dedede.

As Meta Knight and Kirby approached, she held her hands up in surrender, shaking.

There was no way she'd survive this otherwise.

* * *

"Dee!" Kirby looked surprised. "What're _you_ doing here?"

Dee's eyes curled in what one could assume was a smile. "Just some clean-up," they replied, as if partaking in a casual conversation without a robber standing between them. "Big D wanted us to make our claim to the territory clear again."

Kirby's eyes narrowed. "This again? What's he even doing? This is essentially playing hero."

Dee raised an eyebrow.

Kirby grinned. "Not like I'll stop him, anyways."

"Well said," Dee nodded. "We aren't either; it's fun to see him argue with heroes left and right about him being a villain." He shrugged. "But more importantly, this robber here?"

"Oh, right!"

The robber seemed indignant at having been forgotten, but remained silent.

Meta Knight facepalmed. "Catch up with them later, Kirby. You're still on duty."

* * *

Kirby was _so_ glad to see Dee.

As the robber was escorted away, it seemed that any heroes on scene had accepted a tentative cease-fire to repay Dee for aiding in the woman's capture.

So of course, Kirby took the chance to settle into old habits and talk Dee's ear off.

"We haven't seen each other for almost a whole year!" Kirby excitedly rambled. "How's everyone else doing? Dedede and Doo and Hatter and everyone?"

Dee waved a calming hand in the air. "Dedede's fine. Doo just joined active forces, and he's doing a pretty good job… remember that beam quirk? Yeah."

Kirby grinned. "I always did tell him he'd be great. What's he doing?"

"Captain, if you can believe it or not. Better strategist than the rest of us lot, that's for sure." they huffed shortly, which Kirby recognized as their way of laughing.

"Anyways, Kirby, have you gotten a phone yet? I've got something to tell—"

"And what would that be?" came Meta's voice from behind them, startling them both. "Nice to see you, Dee," he greeted quickly. It seemed he was done with talking to the police now.

Dee smiled as they always did. Kirby didn't miss the small hint of disdain that flitted across the villain's brown eyes, though their smile stayed warm as ever. "Indeed, Meta Knight," Dee replied cordially.

There was a moment of silence as the hero and villain stared at each other, and Kirby wasn't sure what it was between them, but he didn't plan to interrupt. It wasn't quite tension, but it wasn't quite all happy warmth and joy either.

"Is Sailor doing alright?" Dee finally said.

It was worry, concern.

Meta Knight nodded. "All the Meta-Knights are on paid leave right now," he explained, and then lowered his voice in case there were nearby reporters. "I'm taking some time off to teach part-time at UA, so they'll be able to relax."

Dee looked like they were going to heave a great sigh of relief, but probably didn't for the sake of keeping up appearances in public.

Kirby knew Sailor. The Waddle family was large and extended, and Kirby had no idea _who_ in their right mind would name every single one of them some variation of 'Dee', but because of this, mostly they were referred to by some defining trait.

Most people would call Dee 'Bandana,' for example. To some extent, Waddle and Dee were both family names. 'Wadoru' if Kirby were to be more accurate, but they were basically the same anyways.

For almost as long as Kirby could remember, Dee had been a steady friend of his. Thus, the one person in the Waddle Dee family that earned the honor of being called 'Dee' was Bandana Waddle Dee.

"Anyways," Dee got back on track, "Regarding Dedede, make sure your phones are on tonight, Kirby, sir Meta Knight. There's been some movement from the villains." Their eyes swung left and right, observing the scene. "In any case, it's probably time for me to leave. Snatch is glaring; I must've overstayed my welcome."

Kirby frowned. "But—"

"You probably shouldn't be seen too much with me anyways, right?" Dee smiled. "See you around, hero!"

Kirby could only wave as Dee ran around the bend and flew into the air with the aid of his spear. Kirby knew that for the sake of appearances, it probably wasn't great to be friends with an active famous villain but… Dee was his friend.

Kirby sighed. Oh well. He'd text Dee later.

* * *

It occurred to him a few hours later that they forgot to exchange phone numbers.

Whoops.

Regardless, Dee was Dee, and still managed to call Kirby that night. Kirby hypothesized that Dee filched his number off of Dedede, or went through some sort of channel from Meta Knight to Dedede to him. Dee was always resourceful after all.

They exchanged news, Kirby about UA and his new friends, and Dee about Dedede and how the group was doing. They still refused to call themselves villains— "what sort of vulgar people do you think we are? We're royalty, and that's that!" Dedede's words echoed in Kirby's mind— so they were… an "organized crime ring."

Or, as Kirby usually put it, to their chagrin, a street gang but bigger. Never mind that they were all considered A-rank villains no matter what each of them said.

The news was relatively small; it was just that the League of Villains was spending a lot on some sort of research, and seemingly doubling their recruiting efforts.

"At this rate, it's shaping up to be a veritable army in half a year, or less," Dee explained. "Doesn't inspire the most confidence."

Kirby nodded, even though Dee couldn't tell over the line. "Yeah, but we've got our heroes on this side. Actually getting them to do something about this would be difficult though, so…" Kirby pouted. "I'll leave it to Meta. He does more of this organizing stuff anyways."

He closed up his small writing pad, setting it on his desk so he could hand the info to Meta later.

Dee laughed, a sound like bells, and Kirby found himself giggling too. "Sounds good. Imma head off now, 'kay? We have a transport job tomorrow, so it'll be pretty boring, but I bet Dedede's knocking around to check that everyone's asleep now that it's curfew."

"G'night then!" Kirby said, holding back snickers. It was hilarious that even living on the other side of the law, Dee and the others had to obey a _curfew_. Of all things.

"Good night!" Came another voice on the other side, quieter and farther.

Kirby laughed. "You too, Doo!"

The line cut.

Kirby looked up at the stars, twinkling brightly in the night sky above the city.

Yeah. Today was fun.

A shooting star passed by.

* * *

**I'm so sorry I forgot to upload here! I'm not too great at remembering to upload things lol**

**In any case, I recommend checking the ao3 version of this instead because I usually get a better chance to fix some things there, or post pics. I posted some drawings I did over there! :D**

**Anyways, here're my notes (from when I posted this chapter on ao3).**

* * *

**asdf very unsatisfied with this chapter tbh, had to rewrite it. But anyways, I hope you enjoy? I feel like Dee's appearance was a bit sudden, but it doe establish that Kirby does still have relations with Dedede's faction.**

**Small note about the Meta Knight and cloak section, I hc that Meta wears a mask because his baby face makes him subject to a lot of judging, especially when he's one of the most powerful knights owning Galaxia. According to the Right Back At You, Meta gained his sword from Garlude's death sort of, so I imagine because his close allies keep on dying, there are probably a lot of unsavory rumors floating around about him.**

**Oh, and about the section relating to Sailor Dee, I wanted to add that in somewhere because there are? so many waddle dees? Like Kirby calls Bandana 'Dee' but there's also parasol Dees and Sailor Dee and I like the idea that they're an extended family. Also because Bandana Dee's pause screen in star allies says that their courage sets them apart from the parasol Dees. Sailor Dee is probably staying with Captain Vul at the moment.**

**And there's Marx and Magolor! I think I made things move a bit too quickly for my tastes, which is why I dislike it so much, but basically Kirby acts as a key to the memories. The reincarnations will settle into sort of similar roles as they had before naturally, but they don't actually remember anything, and if they do, it comes as dreams that they have to piece together themselves. Kirby acts as a sort of catalyst to this, so they might have all the pieces, but seeing Kirby puts it all together and actually makes them associate the images/dreams as memories. I should probably explain it better in a later chapter or something, but basically because Kirby was in a mask the whole time, even if anybody he knew saw him, they didn't regain the memories. You'll see that Meta Knight sort of remembers but they're still mostly dreams if that makes sense? Because Kirby himself hasn't figured it out.**

**(BTW yea Marx and Magolor are living together, I think it was mentioned in Return to Dreamland that Magolor knew someone that warned him about Kirby and there were speculations on it being Marx. They're sorta just roommates)**

**I hope that makes sense! Comment your opinions on the chapter please! :D**


	7. Sorry! Please Read

**The rewrite for ****_Pro Hero: Star Warrior Kirby_**** has been posted! If you enjoyed this, please check it out! Thanks!**


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